Long Beach to offer vessel incentives for emission technology tests

Companies that volunteer to hook up their vessels to special scrubbers while in port could be eligible for reduced fees.    The Port of Long Beach is offering to waive dockage fees for vessel operators who partner in testing an alternative emission-control technology for ships at berth.
   The Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the new incentive on Tuesday, which will be applied to about 40 vessel calls during the next two years, according to the port authority.
   The barge-mounted Advanced Maritime Emission Control System (AMECS) from locally based Advanced Cleanup Technology Inc. is designed to capture engine emissions at the smoke stack through a direct connection to the exhaust outlets, and funnels the soot and gases to an after-treatment device. California regulators are still waiting for more test data before determining whether to approve it as an alternative to electric shore power. In January, a new law went into effect in California requiring container and refrigerated cargo ships, as well as cruise ships to reduce emissions from running auxiliary diesel engines while in port. The default solution for powering ship systems while at berth is electric shore power. Ports must have half of vessels in these categories hook up to shore power and shipping lines must have half their fleets comply. By 2017, the bar rises to 70 percent of each fleet that must use shore power.
   The Port of Long Beach alone has invested $200 million to install shore power substations at its terminals and vessel operators have spent millions of their own retrofitting ships with the requisite cabling and electric equipment, or adding it to new builds.
   Some experts and shipping line executives believe AMECS is a cheaper way to achieve state and port clean-air requirements. But the Long Beach Port Authority suggested in a statement that it views the new system as a way to control emissions at berth when the shore power option is not feasible. Many non-container vessels do not fall under the state’s emission-control rules, but the Port of Long Beach has its own green initiatives to reduce smog and be a better neighbor to local communities that suffer the health effects of concentrated diesel emissions. AMECS would also enable the port to reduce emissions from small containerships that make irregular visits and whose owners are not likely to invest in expensive retrofits.
   AMECS has undergone testing on several vessels at the port in recent months. A 115-high tower on the barge connects ducting to the vent pipes in the smoke stacks and sucks the particulate matter and gases through special filters and a catalytic converter. 
   The alternative emissions technology was featured in the September American Shipper story, “Shore power disruptor?,” which this week won the  London-based Seahorse Club’s 2014 journalism award for environmental reporting.