‘Green behaviour has become a tool for competitiveness, a zero-carbon footprint is increasingly demanded in port activity’. This is how Manuel Arana, Director of Planning and Development of Puertos del Estado, introduced the conference on decarbonisation promoted by Valencia port which was held in the Clock Building.
In it, Arana detailed the main challenges faced by the Port Authorities to neutralise their emissions, ‘the electrical connection of the ships will mean a five-fold increase in the power installed in the ports because with the implementation of the OPS (Onshore Power Supply), energy consumption will double, going from one to two terawatts’. ‘The ports are going to act as energy hubs and this is only one of the most immediate challenges’, affirmed Arana, ‘in Puertos del Estado, a new strategic framework has been set up in which sustainability has become a transversal axis’.
This new strategic framework, explained Arana, contemplates four main areas of work: the Port Authorities, the operators, the transport chain and the energy sector; each one of them with its objectives and goals marked in the calendar to achieve the total decarbonisation of the activity, ‘the great challenge of society is decarbonisation and the ports share this goal’, he concluded.
Environmental balance and challenges of Valencia port
The environment has become the transversal axis of port activity. For this reason, World Environment Day is a key date for the Port Authority of València (PAV), which is holding a working day aimed at the port community to take stock of the objectives achieved and the challenges that Valencia port and its companies have ahead of them to achieve decarbonisation of their activity.
Under the title ‘Actions linked to zero emissions in port companies’, the conference was divided into different tables where the decarbonisation of ships and trucks, the electrification of the docks, the OPS and the generation of clean energy for self-consumption were addressed. Together with Arana, Enrique Belda, Director General of the Port Authority of València, inaugurated the conference, and took the opportunity to encourage the entire port community to continue working on the decarbonisation of the activity: ‘the collaboration of the companies is essential to achieve the goal of Zero Emissions’.
Also with them, Federico Torres, Head of Ecological Transition of the PAV, stressed the importance of the collaboration of all port stakeholders when it comes to decarbonising the activity: ‘45% of emissions in port areas are generated by ships and 25% are generated in terminals and we are working on both sides to reduce emissions. It is very important to publicise good practices, so that they are applied across the board, and we can reach the great objective of decarbonisation as soon as possible’.
Decarbonising ships
At the first-round table of this conference ‘Experiences in decarbonising ships’ – moderated by Raúl Cascajo, Head of Environmental Policies of the PAV – Ramón Zubiaga, Managing Director of Consulmar, spoke about his experience with electric port vessels. Guillermo Alomar, Senior Advisor Baleària, detailed Baleària’s experience with the LNG fleet and with ships using alternative fuels. Cosimo Cervicato, Project Manager of Energy Saving R&D and Ship Design Department, focused on the experience of ECO ships with Grimaldi batteries.
Reduction of the carbon footprint in terminals
The second-round table focused on ‘Experiences in terminals’ and was moderated by Santiago López, Head of Environment at the PAV. Sven Valentin, General Manager of MSCTV, focused his explanation on his experience in the electrification of his container terminal: ‘83% of MSC’s transtainers in València are currently electric’. Machinery, operations and process efficiency were the focus of the rest of his speech.
For his part, Raúl Cascajo explained the energy self-sufficiency project in the Port of Gandía, ‘one of the first energy self-sufficient ports’. The achievement of this milestone has mainly meant ‘the reduction of emissions, the improvement of air quality in the environment, energy resilience, economic savings, increased competitiveness and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals, among others’.
The challenge of OPS electrical connection: electricity at the dockside
Module three explored the challenge posed by the implementation of OPS (Onshore Power Supply). In this respect, the round table ‘Experiences in real operation of the OPS’ included the intervention of Tina Marlind, Senior Project Manager of Program Manager – The Port of Gothenburg, who explained the experience of this Swedish port with the operation of the OPS. The Port of Tenerife, through Santiago Yanes, Head of the Innovation and Strategic Projects Division at the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, explained how this technology works on the island. This round table was moderated by Nacho Benítez, Technician of Innovation in Energy Transition and Sustainability at the Valencia port Foundation.
Decarbonising ‘The last mile, the last round table focused on road logistics ‘Experiences of decarbonisation of truck fleets’ and was moderated by Josep Sanz, Director of Energy Transition at the Valencia port Foundation. Ignacio Rubio, Commercial Director of Comercial de Automoción Rubio Concesionario Oficial Volvo Trucks València, gave an overview of electric trucks and the road to decarbonisation, and Antonio García Celda, General Director of Valencia European Green Capital, explained the Valencia European Green Capital 2024 project as an opportunity to promote decarbonisation.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
