Ports of L.A./Long Beach invest in technology to measure Maersk emissions

The Southern California ports are partnering with Danish shipping giant Maersk Line to monitor emissions from high-efficiency vessels and better gauge the impact on air pollution.    Maersk Line and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are partnering to measure the environmental benefits of a $125 million upgrade for 12 Maersk container ships.
   The initiative involves the installation of sensors to track vessel emissions and energy efficiency, according to an announcement by the two ports on Monday. Air pollution data will be used to analyze the impact of vessels calling at the San Pedro Bay complex.
   The two ports are contributing a combined $1 million to real-time tracking systems to pinpoint vessel emissions while ships are at sea and at berth. The three-year data collection and analysis project, called “The Connected Vessel Program,” builds on the “radical retrofit” program undertaken by Maersk to reduce fuel consumption and increase the capacity of the vessels that regularly call the twin ports.
   “Maersk Line’s extraordinary commitment to cleaner, more efficient vessel operations represents a quantum leap in the environmental progress of our entire industry,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a statement. “We applaud Maersk Line for its leadership and innovation, and we are eager to do our part to advance fundamental change that will result in cleaner air for our surrounding communities and around the world.”
   “This project is a vivid example of the deep commitment to environmental sustainability that we have grown to expect from our goods movement partners, as we all work together to create a healthier planet,” Port of Long Beach Interim CEO Duane Kenagy added. “We’re pleased to be a part of this project, and we hope it will serve as a model to encourage even more progress and creativity in emissions reductions from ocean-going vessels.”
   The project will continuously record how much fuel each engine uses in conjunction with speed, engine power, weather and other operational variables through use of mass flow meters and an interface to the Integrated Control System (ICS) on-board to capture key performance data. Information will be uploaded to Maersk’s servers via satellite, and each ship will be able to communicate in real-time with the Danish carrier’s Global Vessel Performance Center (GVPC) to increase operational efficiency.
   “This is the equivalent of strapping a Fitbit onto a large container ship,” Lee Kindberg, Maersk’s director of environment and sustainability, said. “We’ll be tracking vessel performance and emissions 24/7. This advances our ability to reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants on a global scale.”
   The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will split the $1 million cost under their joint Technology Advancement Program (TAP).
   TAP is a grant program created under the ports’ landmark Clean Air Action Plan to accelerate the evaluation and demonstration of new and emerging clean technologies for reducing and ultimately eliminating harmful emissions from all port-related sources. Ships generate the bulk of air pollution associated with port activity.
   Under its “radical retrofit” program, Maersk upgraded vessels that already plug into shore power at the San Pedro Bay ports. The additional improvements include redesigning the bulbous bow of each vessel, replacing existing propellers with more efficient models, and “derating” the main engines to make them more efficient at lower speeds.
   The retrofit program also involved raising the bridge to increase each ship’s capacity from about 9,500 TEUs to about 11,000 TEUs. This allows Maersk to carry more containers per vessel while decreasing the environmental impact per container moved.
   The energy efficiency makeover is expected to decrease each ship’s fuel consumption by more than 10 percent, saving an estimated 10,000 metric tons of fuel on an annual basis. This will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by an estimated 31,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year and lead to similar reductions of diesel particulate matter (DPM), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), according to Maersk. A single ton of CO2 would fill a 1,400-square-foot house.
   Since 2007, Maersk Line has reduced GHG emissions associated with its vessel operations by 42 percent on a per container, per kilometer basis. The Retrofits and TAP demonstration project with the San Pedro Bay ports will help Maersk reach its goal of a 60 percent reduction of CO2 and other pollutants by 2020.
   For more insight into how Maersk is making vessel operations more environmentally sustainable, check out “Maersk tackles energy, air quality issues.”
   Both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continue to pursue aggressive clean air programs with the goal of eliminating all harmful emissions from port-related sources. Over the last decade, DPM emissions have declined as much as 85 percent, NOx emissions have been cut in half, SOx emissions have plummeted 97 percent, and GHG emissions are down an average of 12 percent, based on the latest annual inventories that measure the impact of the San Pedro Bay ports’ pollution-reducing strategies.
   Maersk is a member of the Trident Alliance, a coalition of ocean shipping companies seeking to ensure effective and consistent enforcement of new international sulfur emissions regulations. Trident Alliance companies are concerned that national regulators, especially in Europe, are not conducting enough inspections or using the best methods to catch violators of Emission Control Areas within 200 miles of the coast, which they say unfairly distorts competition. Under the rules, vessels must burn expensive low-sulfur fuel or use smoke-stack scrubber technology that removes an equivalent amount of sulfur. Some industry officials say vessels should use sensors to electronically monitor the emissions and enable inspectors to check the readings to monitor compliance.
   The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are the two largest ports in the United States, while Maersk is the world’s largest container shipping line.