APL announces breakthrough plan to reduce emissions

Test could lead to safe, cost-effective cold-ironing and improved air quality

Oakland, June 13, 2007 - Global shipping leader APL today announced a potential breakthrough plan to curb vessel exhaust emissions at U.S. seaports through a process known as cold-ironing.

With financial support from the Port of Oakland, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the world's eighth-largest container carrier said it will test its innovative concept this summer aboard the 863-foot container vessel APL China. If the 18-hour trial is successful, cold-ironing could become the maritime industry's most effective tool in the quest to curb air pollution from ships.

"We're hopeful that this will be a significant step forward in improving coastal air quality," said APL Americas President John Bowe, speaking from the APL China berth at the company’s Middle Harbor Terminal in Oakland. "And we're pleased that the city of Oakland, the port and the air quality district share our excitement."

Cold-ironing - also known as alternative marine power - isn't new. The concept is that vessels connect (plug-in) to a clean shoreside electrical power source while docked, enabling them to shut down their diesel-powered generators. That would eliminate more than 1,000 pounds of exhaust pollutants in a single containership port call.

Because of the potential environmental benefits, port authorities and air quality regulators have embraced cold-ironing. But the maritime industry has been wary, citing safety, operational and cost concerns in making cumbersome cable connections from ship to shore – especially for the large percentage of the world’s existing container fleet that hasn't been constructed with cold-ironing in mind.

Bowe said APL's new concept should substantially reduce those concerns. Engineers at APL have devised a plan to connect a single high voltage cable from a shoreside power source to the vessel's bow thruster circuit. The bow thruster is a propeller mounted in a ship's bow to push it sideways during docking.

The bow thruster is driven by a high-voltage electrical motor. The motor is connected to the rest of the vessel's low-voltage power system through a high-voltage cable and transformer. When the shoreside power source is connected to this circuit in the bow, the electricity can be back fed through the cable and transformer to the vessel's main switchboard to power the entire ship.

By using the high-voltage circuit, the vessel-to-shore connection can be made with one 3-inch diameter cable instead of 10 cables, as in other cold-ironing designs. This reduces the cost and complexity of making the connection each time the vessel is docked. What's more, by using the bow thruster transformer, there's no need to install a costly additional transformer to facilitate cold-ironing.

Because a ship's auxiliary engines are shut down during cold-ironing, Bowe estimated that APL’s plan can eliminate 1,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides (N02) emissions, 70 pounds of sulfur oxides (SO2) and 15 pounds of particulate matter in a single 24-hour port call. Just as important, Bowe said, the plan provides three benefits that could make cold-ironing a widespread industry practice for the first time:

• The cost to retrofit vessels for cold-ironing would be about $225,000, far less than original industry projections of $1.5 million.
• Safety is assured on two counts: 1) only one, relatively small cable is required to connect a vessel to shore power and 2) the ship's transformer can run in parallel with the portable power source, allowing the vessel to switch over to shore power without temporarily cutting power.
• Vessels should be able to connect to shoreside power at any port worldwide.

APL plans to test the cold-ironing concept at Middle Harbor Terminal next month with its technical partners - Progressive Electric, of Los Angeles; and Wittmar Engineering and Construction Inc. of Signal Hill, Ca. The APL China will be connected to a portable generator powered by clean-burning liquefied natural gas.

During the test, APL will determine if the vessel's transformer can handle the continuous load from a shoreside power source. If the test is successful, APL will begin to assess broader application of the cold-ironing concept.

"We've seen a number of innovative proposals to curb vessel emissions," said Omar Benjamin, Executive Director of the Port of Oakland. "We're taking part in this test because it holds the promise of significant benefits for air quality in and around the port."

Added Jack Broadbent, Executive Officer of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District: "Public and private sector collaboration is essential if we’re going to protect our coastal environment. We hope this effort produces results that can be replicated industry wide, up and down the California coast."

Cold-ironing is the latest in a series of recent environmental initiatives from APL. In March, the carrier announced a voluntary decision to use cleaner-burning low-sulfur fuel in APL vessels berthed at the Port of Seattle. Last December the shipping line said it will test fuel emulsification - injecting water into diesel fuel - to reduce vessel emissions.

About APL
APL is a global container transportation company offering more than 60 weekly services and nearly 300 calls at more than 90 ports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. It combines world-class intermodal operations with leading edge IT and e-commerce. APL is a unit of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a global logistics and transportation company. APL Web site: www.apl.com

Media inquiries
Mike Zampa
APL
Telephone: 510 272 7380
Mobile 510-520-6760
michael_zampa@apl.com

Robert Bernardo,
Port of Oakland
Telephone: 510 627 1401
Rbernard@portoakland.com

Karen Schkolnick,
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Telephone: 415 749 5070
Kschkolnick@baaqmd.gov