More ferries to use shore power
The new onshore electricity supply plant was recently put into service
Together, the ferry company and port authority have inaugurated the new onshore electricity supply which, Stena claims, is an important step in its dedicated sustainability work which includes reducing emissions to the atmosphere.
“We are delighted to have completed yet another onshore power supply connection,” commented Stena Line CEO, Niclas Mårtensson. “On many of our routes, our vessels call at locations close to cities and this makes it especially important to be able to shut off the engines when docked. Planning work is under way to enable us to connect vessels in more of our ports. The objective is for 25% of the ports we use to have an electrical connection by 2020 and 75% by 2030.”
The company’s present strategy is to use shore power when its ferries are docked for more than two hours. In Trelleborg, this happens during ten port calls out of a total 16 every week. Four of the ferry company’s six Swedish ports are now connected to the local grid and this is estimated to have saved 12,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2016, equivalent to the annual output of 6,500 average passenger cars. Across the Stena Line route network, 17% of ports now provide onshore electricity.
