Shore power double

ABP has confirmed that ‘plug in’ shore power will be available at the Port of Southampton’s Mayflower terminal, shortly after it revealed the same shore power technology will be incorporated into the Horizon cruise terminal design. The announcement is the next step in an ongoing partnership with Carnival UK to enable sustainable cruising from the port and follows a GB£12m investment at the Ocean Terminal in readiness for P&O Cruises’ LNG-powered Iona.

Alastair Welch, regional director at the Port of Southampton, said: “We are incredibly proud to be making another significant step as we further develop our sustainable credentials for cruise with Carnival UK here in Southampton. This is good news for the port, for air quality and for the future of cruise.”

Significant emissions savings

By introducing the option for cruise ships, with onboard capability, to plug in while alongside, the port could start seeing CO2 emission savings of up to 863kg in CO2 and 10.5kg of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) per vessel call each year.

Carnival’s UK president, Simon Palethorpe, said: “A number of our P&O Cruises and Cunard ships are already shore-power enabled and we have plans to install this capability across our fleet. We very much look forward to our return to service this summer and being able to plug into this option while our ships are in port.”

The Mayflower shore power connection will be commissioned and installed during 2021.