The Port of Hamburg in Germany recently began operation of shoreside power charging facilities for use by visiting container vessels.
This makes the port the first in Europe to make shoreside charging available for both cruise ships and containerships.
The first containership to avail of the facilities at Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH) was CMA CGM Vasco da Gama, which connected to the shore charging jetty on Monday, May 13.
The facility will provide shore-side power to the CTH's three mega-ship berths and has connections with a capacity of 7.5 MVA each. It will supply the ships with renewable energy from the public grid, supplied by HEnW.
A total of around €13 million (US$14 million) was invested during the two-year development period. In addition to the Hamburg Port Authority's (HPA) share, the German government, through the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, contributed 50 per cent of the costs.
HPA is currently concluding contractual agreements on the use and conditions with the shipping companies entitled to use the shore-side power, building on existing agreements (Memorandum of Understanding) with customers of the port.
