The ports of Valetta, Malta and Southampton in the UK will soon see major new shore-power installations
Following shore-power connectivity at the Horizon cruise terminal, operator ABP will extended the service to the Mayflower terminal in 2021.
This is the next step in an ongoing partnership with Carnival UK to enable sustainable cruising from the Port of Southampton and follows a £12M (US$17M) investment at the port’s Ocean terminal in readiness for P&O Cruises’ LNG-powered cruise ship Iona.
The project receives support from the UK Government’s Local Growth Deal that provides funds to local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) for projects that benefit the local area and economy. Solent LEP has part-funded a project investigating if an alternative fuel can be offered or supported at each of the dedicated cruise terminals in the port.
Carnival UK president Simon Palethorpe said “We are delighted to see the advance in shore-power technology and fitting this into Mayflower cruise terminal. A number of our P&O Cruises and Cunard ships are already shore-power enabled and we have plans to install this capability across our fleet. We very much look forward to our return to service this summer and being able to plug into this option while our ships are in port.”
The port of Southampton operates five cruise terminals with the latest opening in time for the 2021 cruise season. The port hopes shore-power capability will help curb CO2 emissions to the tune of 863 kg per vessel call each year.
Swiss engineering group Cavotec has won a contract worth €12M (US$14M) to provide shore power to Malta’s port of Valletta.
Valletta Grand Harbour will see the installation of shore power at five cruise liner berths, as part of an EU-funded initiative by Infrastructure Malta to electrify the entire harbour and reduce harmful portside ship emissions by 90%.
Cavotec chief executive Mikael Norin said “Shore power provides clean energy to cruise liners within minutes of their arrival. This deployment could be the blueprint for many historic port cities around Europe. Cities such as Venice, Lisbon and Malta all rely on a large proportion of seaborne tourism traffic.”
Cavotec’s shore-power system is tailored to meet the specific requirements of the Valletta port and to connect vessels over their entire port length. It includes PowerMove - a mobile cable management system to provide ship-to-shore connectivity.
PowerMove units are connected to the island’s energy infrastructure to power vessels while in port. Four PowerMove units are designed to travel 45 m along a vessel’s berth, from the shore socket box to the vessel connection point. The fifth will span more than 55 m, to meet the specific requirements of a deepwater quay.
A remote-controlled telescopic arm adjusts to match the tide changes and the location of the power connections on cruise ships.
Riviera Maritime Media will provide free technical and operational webinars in 2021. Sign up to attend on our events page
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.