Ports of Stockholm has applied jointly with the ports in Belfast, Lübeck and Gent for EU funding within the European Green Deal framework. The joint application is for green ports of the future to be multi-modal nodes for sustainable and smart mobility through innovation and research within electrification and development of alternative fuels.
“The trend is moving towards a port being not only a loading/unloading hub, but also functioning as a strategic node for multi-modal transport, electrification, digitalisation and automation. This new collaboration is aligned with this development and provides us as ports with greater possibilities to drive innovation and revenue for nearby urban nodes, such as Stockholm,” explained Thomas Andersson, CEO of Ports of Stockholm.
Scaling up shore power
For Ports of Stockholm, the planned project includes the possibility to scale up existing onshore power electricity connection capabilities to be able to charge heavier road vehicles and to provide large-scale battery charging facilities for RoPax ships.
Stena Line, a customer of the ports in Stockholm and Belfast, is one of the additional alliance partners in the EU application. The company is already operating services with a hybrid ship and plans to launch an entirely battery-powered ferry by 2030 at the latest.
The application also includes testing of emission-free machinery within the port areas, a study and pilot trial of autonomous passenger boats and last mile delivery services, as well as charging capabilities for smaller passenger vessels.
Reducing emissions aligns with the EU goal for a low carbon dioxide and climate-proof future through the European Green Deal. All four ports in the joint application are part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).