N.Y.-N.J. port to cold iron cruise ships
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board last week authorized a $15 million project to install landside electrical infrastructure so that cruise ships calling at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal can “cold iron” — shut off their engines and use electricity generated ashore when they are docked.
Part of the cost, $2.86 million, will be funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2009, the cruise vessels made 45 calls at the Brooklyn terminal, with two cruise ships owned by Carnival Corp. accounting for about 90 percent of those vessel calls. The port said Carnival has committed to retrofit, at least its two primary vessels that call at the BCT with shore power equipment, at a total cost of about $3 million to $4 million to Carnival, if the landside electrical infrastructure is installed. The two ships regularly calling the terminal today are the Queen Mary II and the Caribbean Princess.
The agency’s board also authorized a $43 million project for the design and reconstruction of the 45-year-old wharf structure at Port Newark's Berth 6.
The port said surveys revealed supporting timber members have deteriorated due to increased marine borer activity and that future loads on the wharf structure would exceed its bearing capacity and limit use of the deck.
The port’s staff determined that demolishing the existing wharf at Berth 6 and replacing it with a new one would be the most cost-efficient course of action. The new wharf will be built so that when the Port Newark Channel is deepened to 45 feet from its current depth of 40 feet, no additional work would be required to the wharf.
The work will restore serviceability, improve operational efficiency, increase load capacity for safe container cargo handling and achieve a renewed 50-year service life for the wharf structure at Berth 6. ' Chris Dupin