Shipping giant Maersk has announced plans to install hundreds of offshore charging stations around the world to supply vessels with electricity to power themselves rather than burring fossil fuels while waiting outside of ports.
According to Reuters, the move is to limit carbon emissions and reduce air pollution from the estimated 3,500 commercial vessels that burn fossil fuels to generate power while lying idle at ports all around the world.
Supply chain issues and the pandemic has caused massive bottlenecks at major ports, and growing demand for imported goods has resulted in more toc=xis exhaust fumes being emitted from ships waiting to discharge their cargo, and potentially causing health problems for nearby urban centres and communities.
Stillstrom, a new company owned by Maersk’s offshore marine service division, has developed technology that will allow vessels to charge while moored to a buoy connected to land via a transmission line.
The aim is to install between three to 10 buoys at 100 ports by 2028, which the group says will cut carbon emissions by five million tonnes every year.
“We know that air pollution is a big problem at ports near urban areas, and these buoys will allow ships to turn off their engines,” Stillstrom manager Sebastian Klasterer Toft said.
“Our ambition is that ships should use green power instead of fossil fuels while lying idle at ports.”
The first ship-charging buoy to be operating at a commercial scale will be installed in the late summer of this year, at a wind farm operated by Orsted.
Tests will be conducted for six to nine months, followed by a commercial roll-out at between 50 and 100 ports by 2028, Maersk said. The company is already in talks with several ports around the world.
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