Assessment of Cold Ironing and LNG as Mitigation Tools of Short Sea Shipping Emissions in Port: A Spanish Case Study

Alba Martínez-López,Alejandro Romero,José A Orosa

doi:10.3390/app11052050

Abstract

By the end of 2025 European ports are required to provide (Directive 2014/94/EU) facilities to ensure the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) use and on-shore electricity supply for vessels (Cold Ironing—CI). Even though this involves considerable port investment, many uncertainties about CI and LNG performance exist because their application depends on vessel operators’ willingness. Additionally, lag times for CI connection/disconnection along with methane emissions from LNG undermine their feasibility for Short Sea Shipping (SSS). Since, among the SSS aims are the reduction in berthing times and its effectiveness for-inter-islands’ traffic where, land electricity grids are frequently dependent on the fuel burning generation by penalizing the CI performance. This paper introduces a calculation method to evaluate the pollution savings in monetary terms by CI and LNG use in SSS. The method is applied to three European routes by testing the environmental performance of two fleets: feeder and Ro-Pax vessels. The results show that feeders reach higher environmental improvements by using port mitigation than Ro-Pax vessels. Additionally, the need for ensuring the sustainability of on-shore grids before the CI implementation was evinced, especially in insularity frameworks, where the environmental benefits from LNG use proved to be more effective.

Highlights

Directive 2014/94/EU requires European Union (EU) ports that are part of the coreTrans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) to provide the facilities to enable alternative fuel use by the end of 2025
In order to reduce the uncertainties about CI and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) performance on the mitigation of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) port pollutant emissions, this paper introduces a mathematical method to calculate emission savings by LNG and CI use versus traditional on-board electricity supply
In order to accurately assess the impact of port mitigation solutions on SSS activity, the following paragraphs introduce a calculation model able to quantify in monetary terms the performance of these measures, with special attention being paid to CI and LNG

Summary

Introduction

Directive 2014/94/EU requires European Union (EU) ports that are part of the coreTrans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) to provide the facilities to enable alternative fuel use by the end of 2025. Directive 2014/94/EU requires European Union (EU) ports that are part of the core. The current European regulation does not oblige vessel operators to use them (Directive 1999/32/EC, Directive 2005/33/EC). It can be affirmed that CI and LNG might not be used, even if the facilities exist Since their capacity to abate port pollution relies on the willingness of vessel operators (the penetration rate) the concern about “guesstimates” for the ports [1] is shared by all geographical zones where the use of sustainable solutions in port is governed by less strict legislation. The uncertainties about the CI and LNG penetration rates for vessel operators open up an interesting discussion, about the expected effectiveness of these measures to mitigate port pollution [2,3,4] and about who should pay for it. The answer is not self-evident [1,5] since the benefits of their use are related to society and the environment

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion