Americas News
Concerns Raised Ahead of New California Shore-Power Regulation
As California prepares for the January 1, 2014 introduction of a new at-berth shore power regulation, the state's Air Resource Board (ARB) reiterated in a webinar last week that the responsibility for compliance will lie solely with vessel operators, a stance that the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) says could lead to ship operators being penalised through no fault of their own.
"The problem is that if the vessel shows up and is ready to plug in [to shore power] but cannot for whatever reason - maybe the berth is not available, or the shore power system is not yet ready - then you are potentially penalising a vessel for something that is outside of their control," the PMSA's T.L. Garrett told Ship & Bunker.
"Those penalties could be up to $100,000 per hour you are out of compliance."
The At-Berth Regulation specifies the requirement that must be satisfied, and ARB has policies that apply to all its regulations that specify the process and criteria used to evaluate any cases of possible non-compliance.
It is through this process that leniency can be granted.
"If [vessel operators have] tried their best to comply, we'd give these efforts strong consideration when the potential non-compliance is evaluated, they shouldn't be worried about major penalties," Grant Chin, staff Air Pollution specialist at ARB, told Ship & Bunker.
At-Berth Emissions
The new regulation requires a fleet operator to reduce at-berth emissions from its vessels'
auxiliary engines at each California Port by 50 percent on average by plugging in to shore power, although the wording of the regulation also allows for equivalency methods of compliance.
"Once completed there will be shore power at 6 ports, 26 terminals, and at a total of 60 berths," said Chin.
"20 of those berths already had shore power available at the beginning of the year, and by December all but about 6 of the installations will be completed."
Although not part of the regulation, a requirement of each port is that every vessel completes a one-time commissioning process when it "plugs in" for the first time.
Those visits will not count towards a fleet's total of compliance visits, and Garrett noted that any commissioning taking place in 2014 because the port was not ready beforehand could unfairly cause a fleet to be in noncompliance.
"Chances are commissioning could bleed into January and February," acknowledged Chin, "but again, if vessels can show they tried their best to comply then they shouldn't be worried about major penalties."
Quarterly Compliance
A fleet's compliance will be assessed on a quarterly basis from January 1, 2014, but as the first enforcement reviews will take place in March 2015, a fleet operator could have to wait a year before finding out how the regulation will be enforced.
"If there are earlier problems, contact ARB," said Chin.
"You don't have to report earlier, but if you are having compliance issues do contact us early on. Ultimately we want to help these fleets to comply."
Garrett says he would like to see ARB set out what their enforcement policy will be ahead of time, but overall expects most issues to be addressed by the end of the year and the regulation's introduction to go smoothly.
"The regulation is worded the way it is, any leniency will be during enforcement, so the message is that it's important you document your efforts," he said.
