Port Tests Alternative to Shore Power for At-Berth Emissions Reduction

Drummond called the technology a "breakthrough"

The U.S. Port of Long Beach (PoLB) will test a mobile emissions control system designed to reduce pollution from docked vessels while allowing them to continue running their engines, the port said in an emailed statement.

The $2.1 million demonstration project, the funding for which was awarded in July 2013, would assess a mobile, barge-mounted system known as Alternative Maritime Emission Control System (AMECS) that diverts a ship's smokestack emissions into a filter-and-treatment device.

"This is an incredible breakthrough, and I'm pleased that we are supporting this demonstration project," said Harbor Commission President Doug Drummond.

"We want to become a zero-emissions port, so I look forward with particular interest to see how the AMECS technology performs."

A new California regulation effective January 1, 2014 requires a portion of vessel calls by container, refrigerated cargo, and cruise ships to use shore power while at berth, helping eliminate emissions from a fleet's engines.

PoLB said the regulation applies to only a third of the port's vessel calls, meaning the AMECS system could help reduce at-berth emissions beyond the scope of the current regulation.

The wording of the regulation also allows for equivalency methods of compliance.

That means that, while it would require the successful completion of trials and state approval, a system such as AMECS could also potentially be used as an alternative to shore power for compliance purposes.

The AMECS technology was developed by California-based Advanced Cleanup Technology Inc. (ACTI), and tests at the port will be supervised by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The port previously worked with ACTI on a wharf-mounted "sock on a stack" version of the technology, where a crane placed a large bonnet over smokestacks to collect emissions.

The new system under test is barge-mounted and uses a direct connection to vessel exhaust outlets.

The Port of Long Beach has introduced a number of environmental initiatives over the past decade, and it has said it reduced some types of emissions by as much as 75 percent between 2005 and 2011.