Port of San Diego completes shore power expansion at cruise ship terminals

As environmental champions, the Port of San Diego continues to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on and around San Diego Bay. For the first time, two cruise ships can now simultaneously use shore power in San Diego rather than running their diesel engines while at berth. Previously, only one cruise vessel could plug in. In early January, the Disney Wonder and the Insignia were the first two cruise vessels to use shore power at the same time in San Diego.

The Port is committed to being a good neighbor. Having two shore power outlets at the cruise ship terminals will result in at least a 90 percent overall reduction of harmful pollutants (while the ships are docked) such as Nitrous Oxides (NOx) and Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) as well as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Port is also meeting California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations that require essentially all cruise ships calling on California ports to use shore power beginning January 1, 2023.

The Port invested $4.6 million to complete this project and worked with Cochrane Marine, LLC to purchase equipment and for construction management, coordinating, testing, and commissioning. San Diego County-based Baker Electric, Inc. installed Port-provided electrical equipment and removed, replaced, and terminated medium voltage cables.

The Port installed its first shore power outlet at the cruise terminals in 2010, making it among the first ports in California to have shore power available for cruise ships.

Doubling shore power at the cruise terminals is among many electrification efforts underway in support of the Port’s Maritime Clean Air Strategy (MCAS), the most ambitious clean air strategy of its kind in the state, and likely in the entire country. The MCAS and its “Health Equity for All” vision represents the Port’s commitment to environmental justice, specifically cleaner air for everyone who lives, works, and plays on and around San Diego Bay.

Expanding shore power at the cruise terminals is among many of the Port’s clean air efforts. Other initiatives the Port is pursuing or are underway include:

• Installation this year of two all-electric Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 Mobile Harbor Cranes (first allelectric cranes to operate in North America) to replace the diesel crane at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal;

• The first all-electric tugboat in the U.S. will be in operation on San Diego Bay this year in partnership with Crowley. The Port is building a shoreside charging station to support the eTug;

• A new shore power system at the National City Marine Terminal;

• An emissions capture and control system (otherwise known as a bonnet) from Clean Air Engineering –Maritime, Inc. (CAEM), which will be able to connect to ships that are not shore power capable and reduce their emissions while at berth.

• Transitioning all cargo handling equipment at the Port and 100 percent of short-haul cargo trucks that serve the Port’s terminals to zero emissions by 2030 – the State’s requirement is by 2035.

• Infrastructure improvements including a 700 KW solar PV system with storage and microgrid at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal; and

• Innovative technology along Harbor Drive to smartly manage cargo truck traffic passing through Barrio Logan and National City.

Port of Long Beach closes 2022 with second-busiest year

The Port of Long Beach marked its second-busiest year on record by moving 9.13 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2022, allowing for a return to normal operations while once again serving as the nation’s leading export seaport.

The Port ended 2022 with 9,133,657 TEUs moved, down 2.7% from 2021, which remains the Port’s most active year in its 112-year history.

Imports declined 4.9% to 4,358,789 TEUs, while exports totaled 1,414,882 TEUs, down 1.6%. Despite the slight decline, the Port of Long Beach remained the nation’s leading export port for a second consecutive year, for loaded TEUs. Empty containers processed through the Port decreased a narrow 0.14% from a year earlier to 3,359,986 TEUs.

“Cargo is moving smoothly as we move past the economic effects of COVID-19,” said Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach. “In 2023, we will continue to invest in digital and physical infrastructure projects, focus on market share and develop long-term improvements that will strengthen our competitiveness and keep goods moving efficiently.”

“Despite the challenges of the last two years, we have focused on longtime customer relationships and invested in projects that put us closer to a zero-emissions future,” said Long Beach

Harbor Commission President Sharon L. Weissman. “In the year ahead, we will collaborate with our skilled workforce, industry partners, and communities surrounding the Port to build upon those improvements and secure our position as the Port of Choice for trans-Pacific trade.”

A rise in online purchases and aggressive efforts to transfer long-dwelling cargo off the docks bolstered trade moving through the Port during the first half of 2022, with monthly cargo records in January, February, March, April, June and July.

Consumer spending cooled by summer due to rising prices driven by inflation, while vessel transfers between the San Pedro Bay ports and a shift in imported goods toward the Gulf and East coasts contributed to a softening of cargo volume during the second half of 2022.

The easing returned the Port to normal operations by year’s end. Economists are forecasting a further decline in cargo volumes through 2023 as consumers shift their purchases to services over goods.

Trade was down 27.9% in December compared to the same period in 2021 with 544,104 TEUs moved. Imports dropped 32.6% to 241,643 TEUs while exports increased 1.6% to 115,782 TEUs. Empty containers were down 33.7% to 186,680 TEUs.