Economics of shore power under different access pricing

Abstract

Providing shore power to ships at berth is recognized as an effective measure to reduce external costs of maritime transport. However, shore power technology is subject to barriers, part of which relate to insufficient incentives for providers and users. Regulatory proposals in the EU have targeted liner shipping segments to be covered by a shore power mandate. There is much less research focused on non-liner segments of shipping, though these represent a significant share of at-berth emissions. This study uses a relatively simple modelling framework to analyze whether public investments in shore power deployment could be socio-economically beneficial. We find that investing in the provision of shore power in ports can be socio-economically beneficial also when aimed at bulk carriers, tankers and general cargo ships. We also find that the pricing of access affects expected uptake and consequently whether or not shore power investments yield benefits in proportion to costs.