The shore power infrastructure at Terminal 5 of the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) has welcomed the first ship to plug into the infrastructure while at berth.
The MSC Brunella became the first vessel to utilise the terminal’s infrastructure on 10 April, with power supplied by Seattle City Light.
The terminal’s shore power project component’s commissioning phase was finalised as the vessel successfully utilised clean energy from Seattle’s electrical grid while at berth, according to NWSA.
Terminal 5 is the first international container terminal in the NWSA gateway with shore power capability, making this inaugural plug-in a significant environmental milestone in the Pacific Northwest.
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“The Northwest Seaport Alliance is committed to reducing maritime emissions in our harbours, and the launch of shore power utilisation at Terminal 5 is an important milestone for our gateway,” stated NWSA Co-Chair Sam Cho.
“We appreciate our partners, SSA Terminals, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Pacific Crane Maintenance Company (PCMC), and the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 19 for working alongside the NWSA to ensure shore power is successful at Terminal 5.”
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Shore power installation is a key environmental initiative as part of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, which targets the installation of shore power infrastructure on all international container terminals by 2030.
The NWSA is committed to making significant investments in installing shore power, with Husky Terminal in the South Harbor and Terminal 18 in the North Harbor as the next projects to be completed.
As accepting shore power requires ships to have special equipment installed, the NWSA praised the cargo shipping industry for increasing the number of shore power capable vessels, with more than half of the vessels that call NWSA being shore power capable.
Once the shore power infrastructure is fully installed throughout the gateway, the NWSA expects that all capable ships will use shore power.
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The Terminal 5 modernisation programme began in 2019 and has been progressing in phases.
The north berth operations began in January 2022, while the south berth operations are expected to start in 2024. Terminal 5 will ultimately have 185 acres of cargo capacity upon completion.
The decline was driven by a 34 per cent drop in full imports, attributed to weak demand and uncertainty surrounding the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) contract negotiations.
