California’s shore power alternative

Long Beach port official calls for more flexible testing of antipollution technology in maritime market to speed innovation.   The California Air Resources Board is expected to soon certify an emissions control technology for vessels docked at state ports that would serve as an alternative to shore power. A thumbs up would allow the system to be quickly commercialized this year. 
   But an official at the Port of Long Beach, which backs the project, is recommending that federal and state officials come up with a more efficient way to vet future innovations because the lengthy process makes it financially difficult for entrepreneurs to sustain research and development.
   “We need to have national standards that are going to facilitate these technologies moving forward,” Rick Cameron, managing director of environmental affairs and planning at the Port of Long Beach, said during an information-gathering forum on environmental sustainability hosted by the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission on Feb. 20. “We’re talking about very small companies. And they only have certain resources to be able to progress. And investors aren’t going to invest unless they know a company has got a piece of paper” certifying the technology.
   The Advanced Maritime Emission Control System (AMECS) is a barge-mounted capture system developed by a Southern California firm, Advanced Cleanup Technologies Inc., which can maneuver alongside a vessel and connect hoses from a 115-foot high tower to each exhaust pipe in the smokestack. The soot and gases are funneled to after-treatment devices: sulfur oxides (SOx) are removed by a catalytic reactor; nitrogen oxides (NOx) are removed with a scrubber; and particulate matter is trapped with diesel filters. Vessels can then run their auxiliary engines to power onboard systems without running afoul of new clean air rules aimed at reducing harmful diesel emissions.
   A state law that went into effect in January 2014 requires half of container, refrigerated and passenger vessels to reduce emissions while at berth by plugging into electric substations on the wharf. By 2017, 70 percent of vessels in those categories must be in compliance. Ports have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in shore-power stations and several ocean carriers have spent millions to retrofit some of their fleets with electric-power components or add the systems when ordering new vessels. 
   A clause allows the use of alternative marine technology that reduces emissions by an equivalent amount as cold ironing, an industry term for shutting down iron engines in favor of dockside electrification. 
   The AMECS system has undergone more than 1,500 hours of proof-of-concept and equipment testing, many of which were with a shore-side system. Another 300 hours of operational tests on 54 vessels, including ones at anchorage, were conducted using the barge-mounted variant, company officials said. The latest testing under the rigorous California Air Resources Board (CARB) protocol analyzes how the system operates over long durations and with different sizes of ship generators, as well as its efficiency capturing emissions. 
   Mediterranean Shipping Co. partnered with Advanced Cleanup Technologies in tests and the company recently completed a demonstration for Maersk at Los Angeles’ Pier 400 in which it was able to achieve 100 percent capture efficiency on a 10,000-TEU vessel, founder and president Reuben Garcia said in an interview.
   Advanced Cleanup Technologies recently submitted the test data. It is waiting for the state agency to verify the results and issue a letter stating the emission-capture technology is equivalent to shore power. 
   Garcia expressed confidence the company would get the necessary approval by late April. 
   Cameron said AMECS will primarily be used when shore power is not an option. As previously reported in the feature story, “Shore Power Disruptor” (see September 2014 issue, pages 48-56), ocean carriers are reluctant to retrofit vessels that are smaller, older or irregularly call California ports because the payback in depreciation and revenue isn’t enough. Charter operators are especially unlikely to convert vessels to electric power because they move on irregular routes all over the world and there are no known ports outside the U.S. West Coast with shore power.
   “The goal is to have flexibility and provide a variety of tools so that if a marine terminal or a shipping line doesn’t want to spend millions of dollars converting their vessels for purposes of meeting the California requirement to plug in, this is the technology that will allow assets to be moved around from different services based on peaks and lows” in demand, Cameron told the FMC.
   The Port of Long Beach provided a $2 million grant to Garcia’s firm for the feasibility tests, which were overseen by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
   “I view this as an opportunity for the non-regulated fleet,” Cameron added. “If we’re able to do that we can get emissions from those sources that are not regulated, incentivize it in a voluntary way and get more emission reductions. That’s the way I view that type of technology. Getting it commercially available, deploying it and getting more emission reductions.”
   Breakbulk, roll-on/roll-off and tanker vessels are not covered under the CARB shore-power regulation, although there always is a possibility the regulation could be amended in the future.
   In December, the Long Beach Harbor Commission decided to waive parking fees for vessel operators which partner in testing the AMECS technology. The port authority said the incentive will be applied to about 40 vessel calls over a two-year period. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach often set stricter emissions rules to minimize local complaints about health impacts and preserve the ability to expand.
   Garcia said he is negotiating lease agreements with several ocean carriers, terminals and port authorities that could be executed once CARB certification is received.
   Terminals or ports that wet lease the equipment and associated services would make AMECS available to any customers that wanted to comply with air emission rules, but couldn’t use cold ironing. Ocean carriers could also make direct arrangements to have emissions captured from non-electrified vessels. Advanced Cleanup Technologies plans to charge $800 to $1,000 per hour, which includes the cost of tug service and a spacer barge to keep the AMECS watercraft from drifting too close to the side of the vessel. The flatbed barge is a safety precaution because containers sometimes get stuck together when lifted by crane before the bottom one separates and falls to the water, potentially crushing anything in its path.
   Advanced Cleanup Technologies has purchased a couple of old oil barges to transport the AMECS system, but now has eyes on three “stud barges.” These barges have studs in each corner that can be lowered into the mud to secure themselves without the need to tie up to vessels or use spacers. Once contracts start coming in, the environmental technology firm will start building additional systems. 
   The second unit will be a next-generation system that incorporates minor technical lessons from the testing period, John Holmes, vice president of operations, said. One of the upgrades will capture steam exhaust and condense it to minimize water use. The barge carries a large water tank to support the NOx scrubber and creating water onboard will reduce the need to order extra water from a supply vessel at a cost of several thousand dollars, the former head of Los Angeles port operations said. He estimated that new systems will take about three months to produce once all production steps are worked out.
   The company anticipates having five systems and 10 customers under contract by the end of the year, Garcia said.
   The first scrubbers will be deployed in Long Beach, followed by the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland.
   Garcia says he hopes port authorities and carriers will eventually petition CARB to allow vessels using AMECS to burn the same dirty bunker fuel they do on the open seas, which would save them a significant amount in fuel costs. In January, stricter international maritime standards went into effect for so-called emission control areas, including around North America. Vessels operating in the emission control areas are required to switch over to ultra-low sulfur marine diesel fuel. The fuel is typically about $300 to $350 per metric ton more expensive than heavy bunker fuel burned during deep-sea travel.
   AMECS is able to capture more than 99 percent of harmful gases, so vessel operators should be able to use whatever fuel they want, Garcia said.
   Meanwhile, Clean Air Engineering Maritime, a rival developer that is embroiled in a patent dispute with Advanced Cleanup Technologies, also has an approved test plan from CARB and is testing at the TraPac terminal in the Port of Los Angeles.
   
Expediting Regulator Reviews. Cameron said he wants CARB to rethink its verification process so the focus on immediate perfection doesn’t bankrupt a company before it can get off the ground. 
   Advanced Cleanup Technologies had to develop a 20-page test procedure that underwent 18 revisions before it was approved by CARB, Holmes said. The rigorous plan is appropriate, he added, because regulators need to know the technology can function well in harsh, real-world conditions as opposed to a lab.
   Garcia has been working on the AMECS concept for 10 years. Early on he used his own funds and a $3 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He previously has said that he was unable to attract venture capital because people weren’t sure how the emissions regulations would change, whether they would be enforced or if someone came up with a different technology.
   “After all these years of demonstrating and testing, I’m really excited,” Garcia said about nearing the finish line.
   There needs to be some general consensus on state and federal testing guidelines as they apply to the maritime industry the same way there are for autos and off-road equipment, Cameron told American Shipper after the FMC event.
   “CARB is very well recognized. Their verification is taken and used at a national level and international level. And so, if there is a way for them to provide some sense of standard guidelines, or bifurcate it to allow for some of these technologies to move forward in maybe a stepwise commercialization approach, we’d then have a lot more ability to get the funding for commercialization,” Cameron said. “And then there’s more attraction [for venture capital] to it. Right now it’s all or nothing.”
   Several years ago, it took CARB six months to verify Foss Maritime’s hybrid tug because it was technology regulators hadn’t tested before. “We’re taking old guidelines and processes and trying to adapt them to a hybrid vessel to try and get the emission numbers,” the Port of Long Beach environmental chief said.
   He recommended EPA have some national standards that could apply and that states have the ability to adapt them to their own needs. EPA has a new initiative to reduce diesel emissions in ports because of the concentrated pollution they produce near urban areas and Cameron said he’s raised his concern during stakeholder meetings.
   Cameron added it is critical that any new emission-reduction technologies meet scientific criteria, but that they have an easier path to commercialization.
   “So I’m hoping we can get the regulatory folks on board, the vendors on board and figure out what we can do to kind of make this a kind of step-wise approach rather than an all-or-nothing end-game of verification,” he said.

This article was published in the May 2015 issue of American Shipper.