The Port of Helsinki is electrifying its own vehicle fleet and growing charging infrastructure in its harbour areas. Electrifying the mobility of the Port’s own staff, stakeholders and passengers contributes to the building of more sustainable mobility and a carbon neutral port.
The Port of Helsinki adopted its first electric cars and built charging stations for them at Vuosaari Harbour and the South Harbour in 2017. Now, the electrification of the Port’s vehicle fleet and the building of charging infrastructure are proceeding in earnest.
“This change is motivated by the promotion of sustainable development and carbon neutrality. Electric cars are rapidly becoming more and more common not just here at the Port, but among our cooperation partners and ship passengers as well,” says the Port of Helsinki’s Head of Sustainable Development Andreas Slotte.
The adoption of the electric cars is also part of the Port’s efforts to find economically viable solutions. Today, new electric cars are often priced quite competitively compared to petrol and diesel cars. The procurement of the electric cars was preceded by a thorough assessment of all of the Port’s cars, their purposes of use and replacement possibilities. The assessment also resulted in a slight reduction in the total size of the Port’s vehicle fleet. Following the implementation of the changes this autumn, the Port’s vehicle fleet will include a total of 22 cars, of which half will be electric cars.
The benefits of the change are further bolstered by the fact that the Port of Helsinki switched to procuring carbon-free electricity back in 2020.
An extensive charging network is a prerequisite for the electrification of mobility
The proliferation of electric vehicles is dependent on charging infrastructure. At the start of 2022, the Port of Helsinki added a total of eight slow charging stations to the South Harbour at the Satamatalo building, which will be supplemented with the establishment of 14 new medium-speed charging stations later this year. Medium-speed charging stations take approximately four hours to charge an empty electric car battery to full, making them ideal for charging a car during the workday. These charging stations will also be easy to reserve for the use of stakeholders in the future.
Additionally, the Port of Helsinki plans to build four medium-speed charging stations and four slow charging stations in Vuosaari Harbour for its own use.
The Port of Helsinki has also built EV charging stations for ship passengers at Helsinki’s ship terminals. At present, there are 18 charging stations in the Satamaparkki car park at the West Harbour, in addition to which this summer saw the introduction of charging stations at the Olympia Terminal and Katajanokka Terminal, which are funded by advertising displays. In addition to these, the Port will be adding 9 EV charging stations to the Olympiaparkki car park in the autumn for passengers going on cruises to Stockholm.
