LA Port’s harbor tour boat to be retrofitted with hybrid propulsion system

09 Feb 2012 - Environment , Ports, Los Angeles / Long Beach

• Angelena II will be the first harbor craft of its kind to be fitted with system

• System will reduce fuel usage and emissions by more than 95%

The Port of Los Angeles has been given the green light from the U.S. Coast Guard to install a hybrid propulsion system on its 42-year-old harbor tour boat, the Angelena II.

Upon completion later this spring, the Angelena II will be the first harbor craft of its kind to be retrofitted with a hybrid propulsion system that will reduce emissions and fuel usage by more than 95 percent.

Since its construction in 1970, the Angelena II had been powered by two 350-horsepower diesel engines that, as of September 2011, no longer met California emissions requirements.

While the Port is spending approximately US$200,000 for the cost to replace the existing diesel engines (required by the Coast Guard, for back-up power), the Port applied for and received an approximately $500,000 U.S. Department of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to upgrade the vessel power system.

“The Angelena II is an invaluable business and public education tool, and now we can also use it to demonstrate yet another emerging technology that can reduce emissions in ports and harbors around the world,” said Port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz.

“The Port has provided more than $100 million to help fund these kinds of technologies and reduce overall emissions in the LA Harbor.”

Between 2005 and 2010, Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions at the Port have been reduced 69 to 70 percent; Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emissions have been reduced by 50 percent; and Sulfur Oxide (SOx) emissions by 75 percent.