Does your company have shore power ambitions and would you like some advice and/or guidance?
If so, contact Ryan Cornelisse or Tiemo Arkesteijn. 

The new shore facility in Vlaardingen has a capacity of 1.8 MW, which is roughly equivalent to the annual energy requirement of 1,500 households. The facility provides 3.5 GWh of electricity per year. Van Oosterom: ‘We therefore expect to be able to reduce the CO₂ emissions of our vessels by 1,600 to 2,100 tonnes annually. Our shore facility ensures improved local air quality and reduced noise pollution for local residents. The switch to shore power was quite a voyage of discovery for us. Many parties were involved. It is good that RSP guided us through this process!’ Dita Bruijn: ‘As a company, you are dependent on subsidies and a cooperative government for a shore power project to succeed. We invest where possible, but also have to compete with other ports and countries. As far as we are concerned, the State and the municipality of Rotterdam could go a step further in terms of subsidies.’ 

‘We are opting for shore power at terminals and on routes where we can get the highest return on this investment,’ Jorik van Oosterom, terminal director in Vlaardingen, states. ‘For example, because it is subsidised, or our vessels are ready for shore power. Besides our duty to be sustainable, we must prioritise our competitiveness and business continuity. Two roll-on/roll-off vessels sail daily between Vlaardingen and Immingham. They arrive at our terminal in Vlaardingen three times a week. We have had new vessels that are ready for shore power on this route for the past three years. 

All RSP clients want to be frontrunners in the energy transition. Dita Bruijn, head of terminals at DFDS, agrees: ‘We are going faster than the law requires. We consider it our moral and social duty to become sustainable. We reduce the CO₂ and NOx emissions wherever we can and then mainly at terminals close to inhabited regions. As well as in Vlaardingen, we offer shore power at our city terminals in Gothenburg, Oslo and Copenhagen. At the same time, we are taking other measures such as the electrification of reach stackers and other terminal equipment. We are also testing HVO as an alternative for marine diesel oil in Vlaardingen and Trieste.’ 

RSP can perform an obligation-free ‘quick scan’ for companies with shore power ambitions to give them an idea. Arkesteijn refers to the broad subsidy options. ‘Support is being offered on all layers from the State to provincial and municipal levels. We can arrange the entire process: from the subsidy application up to commissioning. The current grid congestion issue doesn’t make the transition to shore power any easier, but it is still possible and appealing. A shore facility can also be a good first step towards further electrification of a terminal, for example.’ 

A lot is involved in the transfer to shore power. Terminals can outsource the permit process, financing, realisation, operations and the management of a shore facility to Rotterdam Shore Power (RSP). This joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Eneco was created to enable shore power at Heerema, and it also supervised Boskalis in the Waalhaven and DFDS Seaways. ‘We are focused on shore facilities with larger capacities for high-voltage vessels,’ Tiemo Arkesteijn, executive director at RSP, says. ‘It’s a complex process and can easily take 1.5 to 2 years. With our help, clients have little to worry about. We are currently working on other large projects in Rotterdam. Furthermore, we are talking to ports and other companies outside Rotterdam.’ 

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is responsible for the construction, operation and management of shore power facilities at public berths in the port area. Terminals and other companies in the port must take care of this themselves. The Port of Rotterdam Authority’s Shore Power programme team can provide support. Cornelisse: ‘We can’t take care of the investment for these companies, but we can help with the business case and technical design. We know many relevant market parties that have a workable solution. So, our port’s clients do not have to search for that themselves. Together with the municipality, we can finance 80% of a feasibility study. Many companies are busy with such a study. For some, it has already led to actual investments. From the Port of Rotterdam Authority, we can also provide an introduction to Rotterdam Shore Power.’ 

On the map below, you can see the locations of various shore power projects in the port. By clicking on them, you’ll gain further insight into their status.