The Port of Gothenburg has been awarded one of the prestigious Energy Globe Awards 2011 for its work on shoreside power connection for ships. According to the Port, around one third of all vessels calling at Gothenburg now connect to shore side power, also known as ‘cold ironing’ and Alternative Maritime Power (AMP). The award and prize money of EUR 10,000 was presented at a ceremony in Austria on Friday, November 25.

Established in 1999, the Energy Globe World Awards seek to promote the use of clean, renewable energy sources. Awards are given in five categories: Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. Winners are selected by a panel of experts drawn from the UN, the World Bank and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

Ships need power while berthed to run on-board services ranging from lighting, telecommunications and food preparation, to mooring and cargo handling. AMP enables vessels to switch off their engines while in port and connect to electrical power supply. This reduces diesel emissions in ports thus improving air quality in and around ports. Electrical power at the Port of Gothenburg is provided by wind turbines thus reducing the Port’s environmental footprint to a minimum.

Working with partners in the industry, Cavotec has developed shore power technologies at ports across Northern Europe and in Canada and the US, such as the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.

Susann Dutt, Sustainability Manager at the Port of Gothenburg, attributed the Port’s success with shore power to close cooperation with customers.

She added: “Hopefully, the attention this [] will contribute to more ports and shipping companies investing in shoreside power supply.”

The Port of Gothenburg has released a video showing Dutt receiving the award of behalf of the Port. The second part of this film includes footage of the newest cable system at the Port that supplies Stena Line ferries with electrical power – a cable system developed by Cavotec, global engineering group ABB and other local partners.

You can read a statement on the award released by the Port of Gothenburg here.

The Port of Los Angeles has led the development of a Carbon Calculator for ports to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from their operations and explore reduction strategies.

The free tool (available in both English Unit and Metric Unit versions), designed in collaboration with experts from a handful of other ports worldwide, forms part of the World Ports Climate Initiative (WPCI) designed to identify and promote “effective, sustainable practices and strategies for ports and harbours to improve air quality”. The WPCI Carbon Footprinting Guidance report can be found here.

Port of Los Angeles technicians expect the initiative will be used a planning tool that ports worldwide can use to compute the benefits of replacing or retrofitting equipment with systems or machines that run on sustainable power.

“The Carbon Calculator is a powerful tool to help each port chart its own course toward reducing greenhouse gases,” explains Port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D. “A consistent methodology among ports will help us assess our global impact.”

In related news, the Port of Long Beach has announced a new installation at its Pier C, which uses Cavotec’s Alternative Maritime Power (AMP) solution to provide electricity to docking ships, allowing them to shut down secondary diesel engines and thus reducing harmful emissions. This is the fourth unit to be put in place at the port in an effort to comply with state regulations that require 50 per cent of containership visiting Californian ports to use shore power by 2014.

“Together with our industry partners we have shown the world that it is possible to move more cargo and reduce emissions at the same time,” declared Susan E Anderson Wise, President of the Long Beach Board of Harbour Commissioners.

Both ports operate using a number of Cavotec innovations including Shore Power Outlet Boxes (Medium Voltage Connectors and Fiber Optic Junction boxes), Panzerbelt cable protection system, AMP Mobile (including Cavotec remote control unit), AMP Vault Easy Lift Cover Assemblies, Cable Reels (installed on Ship To Shore cranes), One-Hand Lift Fire Hydrant Covers and Compressed Air Pit Assemblies.

Sustainability initiatives undertaken by the Port of Los Angeles to operate more sustainably and create employment in and around the port are highlighted in a short film. The film includes an interview with Cavotec CEO, Ottonel Popesco, who describes how Cavotec and the port have worked together to introduce shore-to-ship electricity supply, Alternative Maritime Power, at the port.

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is a pioneering new award designed to recognise and encourage innovation in engineering. The £1 million prize, officially launched this month, is international and aims to show how engineering can make a difference to the world.

The initiative is a result of the growing appreciation by business, industry and policy leaders of the need to focus attention on engineering worldwide. According to the official website, the Royal Academy of Engineering will award the Prize, “every other year to an individual or team of up to three people, of any nationality, responsible for advancing the application of engineering knowledge”.

An independent charitable trust, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation, has been set up and a number of engineering companies have donated to an endowment fund to provide the prize money. The Royal Academy of Engineering will deliver the Prize on behalf of the trust.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was present at the launch event. During his speech he said, “I am delighted that the Queen has put her name to this prestigious prize, which I hope will carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes. For too long Britain’s economy has been over-reliant on consumer debt and financial services. We want to rebalance the economy so that Britain makes things again – high-skilled high-value manufacturing and engineering should be a central part of our long-term future.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband also supported the Prize: “Just as engineering has helped us meet the big challenges in the past, it will be engineering that helps us meet new challenges.”

The first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering will be presented in early 2013.

You can read British Prime Minister David Cameron’s full speech here.

Cavotec’s innovative automated mooring solution MoorMaster™ was a key component in two significant awards this month. The 2011 Western Australia Engineering Excellence Award and Australia Bulk Handling Award 2011 for Best Practice in Occupational Health & Safety both went to Cavotec partners that rely on MoorMaster™ for the safe mooring of vessels.

The awards celebrate the ground breaking technical characteristics and operational benefits of the MoorMaster™ application at the Utah Point iron ore berth at Port Hedland in Western Australia.

MoorMaster™ is a vacuum-based automated mooring technology that eliminates the need for conventional lines. Remote controlled vacuum pads recessed in, or mounted on, the quayside, moor and release vessels in seconds. The technology dramatically improves safety and operational efficiency, and also enables ports to make infrastructure savings. It has performed more than 40,000 mooring operations at ferry, bulk handling, Ro-Ro, container and lock applications around the world.

The technology is also being employed at other bulk handling applications in Western Australia. Earlier this year, Karara Mining ordered 12 MoorMaster™ units, for use at their dedicated bulk handling facility at the Port of Geraldton. Eight such units are also in the final stages of commissioning for Hamersley Iron, a subsidiary of Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto, at the Dampier Fuel Supply Wharf in the Port of Dampier.

Environmentally-friendly biofuels hit both the headlines and the skies this week when a United Airlines aircraft successfully completed a commercial flight powered by biofuel.

Other leading airlines have also recently experimented with biofuels as a way of reducing emissions and combatting rising oil prices. Boeing recently announced that biofuels would make up 1% of the fuel it uses annually by 2015 and estimated that biofuels could reduce flight-related greenhouse-gas emissions globally by up to 80 percent. The air transport industry is currently responsible for 2 percent of man-made carbon dioxide emitted globally.

Despite recent testing and positive results, according to Big Think there are no concrete plans to continue these experiments due to the prohibitively expensive cost of aviation biofuels, which can reach nearly six times the cost of regular jet fuel.

Oil prices increased nearly 500% from 2003 to 2008, indicating that global petroleum production is still in high demand. The lack of viable alternatives to petroleum for aviation fuel only goes to increase the urgency of the search for alternatives. 

At Cavotec, we always enjoy hearing about innovative technologies that enable airports to operate more sustainably and work more productively. We shall be following the development of this particular approach with interest.

Earlier this year, Cavotec received an important order as part of a project at London’s Heathrow Airport for ground support systems for Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Under this contract, Cavotec will deliver hatch pit systems, converter caddies, power units and cable crocodiles.

In the US in September, Cavotec completed a takeover of INET, a leader in the engineering and manufacturing of ground support equipment headquartered in Fullerton, CA. This acquisition further consolidates Cavotec’s position in North America, with nearly 200 employees and colleagues working from three manufacturing facilities and from Cavotec’s own local offices. The deal also marks a milestone in Cavotec’s presence in the U.S. market, given INET’s U.S. and international clients, which include Lockheed, Boeing, NASA, Northrop Grumman, as well as many international airports such as Miami, Bangkok, Cairo, Toronto and Vancouver.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published a review this week recommending that the UK’s share of international shipping emissions should be included in climate targets and carbon budgets.

An article published by Port Technology International describes how the CCC’s recommends inclusion of shipping emissions in country’s carbon budgets, which could account for up to 11 percent of total emissions permitted under the Climate Change Act by 2050. The article also details how the review also provides a detailed assessment of the UK’s share of current international shipping emissions, projected emissions up to 2050 and estimates of the abatement potential from shipping.

Under the Climate Change Act, it is Parliament that must decide whether to include emissions from international shipping in carbon budgets. The UK’s target to reduce emissions in 2050 by 80% below 1990 levels.

At Cavotec, we always enjoy hearing about innovative technologies that enable the ports, airports, mining and tunnelling and general industries to operate more sustainably and work more productively. We shall be following the development of this particular approach with interest.

Image: Martin Pettitt, Wikimedia Commons