Greener ports: HAROPA PORT installs equipment to supply power to ships at berth, reducing their environmental footprint

October 7, 2021

After implementing its Bornes & Eau (Water Supply Terminals) programme along the Seine Axis, HAROPA PORT has added another dimension to its environmental ambitions with quayside connections for electricity supply.

Electrical power supply for cruise ships at Le Havre port

HAROPA PORT has started work on achieving the goal of enabling cruise ships to connect to a landside electricity supply during their calls at Le Havre.

What is currently Hangar 13 on the Pointe de Floride will be redeveloped to house high-voltage distribution equipment along with conversion systems to adjust quayside supply to the needs of ships. A network of underground cables will be laid to take current to carriers, each weighing 15kg and providing five connection points on articulated arms for provision of supply to vessels irrespective of their location along the cruise terminal’s three quays.

Connection to the public grid, a key component of the system, entails major construction work requiring extensive collaboration: the laying of the three high-voltage cables over three kilometres and the installation of a 40MW transformer at the Source Substation. This work is being carried out under project management by Enedis – the entity responsible for managing the national electricity grid – and will be completed in 2022.

The electrification of Pierre Callet quay will be operational as early as the 2023 season and represents the first phase of what is a large-scale project. Joannès Couvert and Roger Meunier quays will offer the same vessel accommodation conditions for cruise seasons 2024 and 2025 respectively.

An investment of €20m has been earmarked for this project, which also benefits from €11.1m in support from the government’s Economic Stimulus Plan, plus a contribution of €0.9m under the Territorial Pact for Ecological and Inclusive Transition.

HAROPA PORT has ambitions and will be the first Northern European port to be able to supply 30MW to cruise ships.

Electrification of the Port 2000 quays will unfold over the period to 2028, following the protocol of agreement signed on 21 June 2021[1] between the five Northern Range ports: Antwerp, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and HAROPA PORT.

“The energy transition has been made central to our strategy. This means that HAROPA PORT is setting out to be among those who want to speed up the pace of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; cruise terminal electrical supply connections are in line with this movement. These investments reflect our determination to “green” our activities and those of the users of our port. Our objective is clear: we want to be a clean, carbon-neutral and positive-energy port by 2040″

Stéphane Raison, CEO, HAROPA PORT

“Enedis sees its role as a public service for the energy transition; its task is to support its customers when they undertake initiatives related to electrical distribution: connection to renewable energy sources, individual and collective standalone consumption, electric mobility. In this context, Enedis is delighted to assist HAROPA PORT in its flagship project for the connection of electrical supply to ships in the heart of the city of Le Havre, this being the first milestone in a broader cooperative enterprise focused on the development of electric mobility and renewable energy in Seine port infrastructure.”

Sébastien Courtin, Enedis Regional Director, Normandy

Environmental imperatives combine with market expectations

Over and above the technical issues involved in its implementation, this project is guided first and foremost by a strong environmental desire to see reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of fossil fuels. A local impact is also expected with regard to air quality in the vicinity of the terminals given that in the short term the cruise ships connected to the quayside power supply will be cutting their emissions significantly in volume terms during their calls at the port. These ecological issues are accompanied by market expectations: using this quayside electrification programme, HAROPA PORT intends to consolidate its competitiveness on the Northern European cruise market and enhance its attractiveness for cruise operators and actors generally along the entire transport/logistics value chain.

Along the Seine Axis

Other projects are currently under development at terminals in Rouen and Paris.HAROPA PORT and VNF (French Waterways Authority), with support from the European Commission, are installing 78 riverside connection points for supply of water and electricity to freight barges and river cruise boats[2], adding to the 14 connection points already installed since 2018. In Paris, the quays of Grenelle port have a system specifically intended for passenger boats calling at the port; to date, one connection point has been installed and six others will have been added by 2023.

In line with the goals announced by the European Commission for achieving the target of a minimum 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030[3] and the implementation of practical measures, HAROPA PORT is endeavouring to make an active contribution to the combat against climate change. In this global effort, one of the levers for controlling greenhouse gas emissions is the decarbonization of maritime transport.