NEWS CentrePort already has seven full electric Gaussin trucks which are used for port side container movements.
CentrePort making emissions drive HYDROGEN FUEL-CELL ELECTRIC trucks will play a role in the next phase of CentrePort Wellington’s efforts to reduce its CentrePort Wellington CEO Anthony Delaney.
4 | Truck & Driver
carbon emissions. CentrePort CEO Anthony Delaney says two new Hyzon fuel-cell electric trucks will be completing container movements around the lower North Island starting from early 2023. The move sees CentrePort participating in the Hiringa Energy, Waitomo Group and TR Group hydrogen trial. Committing to early adoption of hydrogen continues recent efforts from the port to reduce carbon emissions across its operations. “Ports have a lot of carbon generating machinery like tugs, pilot boats and container handling plant,” says Mr Delaney. “Our journey is to see how can we transition to being more sustainable as a business. But with the requirement to be both sustainable and resilient. “It’s not about a few hydrogen trucks. It’s a shift of mindset to reducing carbon emissions, limiting waste and recycling materials,” he says. Delaney points to damage caused in Wellington by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake as a turning point for the port. Faced with
uneven ground it sought an alternative to staddle units for container movements and now operates seven battery-swap electric truck and trailer IMV (Internal Movement Vehicle) units from French company Gaussin for container movements inside the port. The port has also concentrated on multimodal transport and moved 48,000 TEU of containers by rail last year. It has also made use of 200,000 tonnes of concrete from the demolished BNZ building for construction works. “We have are more holistic in how we manage waste,” Mr Delaney says. The port sees hydrogen as another part of its sustainability journey. “We have a lot of eggs in one basket [the electric trucks] so we began to look at hydrogen and how we could use it, both inside and outside of the port,” says Delaney. “One way is to look at repositioning the empty boxes [containers] to where they are needed to be filled in the most efficient manner - whether that’s by road or rail.
