HALIFAX—A new report released today highlights the benefits of implementing shore power for coastal communities by reducing local air pollution and harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Advancing Shore Power in Canada, prepared for Oceans North by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors, provides an in-depth look at the impact of ships running their engines at berth and identifies opportunities to accelerate shore power implementation across Canadian ports, with a focus on the largest: Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal, Saint John, and Halifax.

Each year, thousands of ships call at Canadian ports. More than 95 percent continue to run their diesel engines while parked at berth to power systems like refrigeration and heating. Burning this fuel contributes to climate change and—especially so close to population centres—negatively affects human health, reducing lifespans and adding costs to our health care system. A large cruise ship at berth for 10 hours burns as much fossil fuel as is needed to power a small city the size of Nelson, B.C.

Shore power enables ocean-going vessels to plug into the electricity grid rather than run their auxiliary engines to generate power while at berth. This technology has been utilized for 25 years, with mandatory connections regulated in California, the European Union and China, and is widely recognized as a scalable and effective means to improve local air quality, mitigate climate impacts, and reduce fossil fuel use in the marine sector.

However, according to a benchmarking study released last year comparing Canada’s busiest ports to the world’s, shore power infrastructure has been deployed at only a small proportion of the total terminals and berthing locations necessary for widespread adoption in our country. The new report provides recommendations to attract best-in-class, shore-power capable ships and generate investments in infrastructure and technology that will allow our ports to keep pace with our trading partners and competitors.

“While individual ports face unique opportunities and barriers when it comes to expanding shore power, the biggest obstacle right now a lack of federal leadership,” says Amy Nugent, Oceans North’s Associate Director of Marine Climate Action. “Transport Canada needs to step up and provide federal regulations and adequate infrastructure funding, or ships will simply continue to run dirty engines while parked in the middle of Canada’s coastal cities. Failure to act will mean that companies will send their shore-power equipped ships to other ports where connection is regulated, and send their dirtiest ships to Canada where it is virtually free to pollute.”

However, this pollution has real costs, especially for those residing near major ports.

“Living and working in a harbour city, I encourage my patients to reap the health benefits of spending time in nature, including on our beautiful waterfront,” says Dr. Bethany Ricker, a family physician in Nanaimo, BC, and Co-Chair of the BC chapter of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). “But with ships generating unnecessary air pollution at our ports, a walk by the ocean may cause harm, especially for vulnerable community members. For my patients who work in the shipping industry, consistent exposure to ship emissions is especially concerning. As our healthcare system is strained to its limits, we must work to prevent medical complications and hospital admissions before they happen—including by cleaning up our ports and reducing docked ship emissions.”

The report suggests several key policies to enable this, including a requirement that all berths at Canadian Port Authorities can provide shore power by 2035, and that large ocean-going vessels are required to connect to it. In order to achieve these goals, the government could develop a Federal Port Electrification Investment Strategy, which would start right away by funding port authorities to develop detailed feasibility and design studies and collaborate with utilities to ensure that there is sufficient interconnection planning, transmission, and distribution.

“Our research shows that shore power could reduce GHG emissions by nearly 170,000 tonnes annually, more than ten times what current deployment has achieved,” says Brendan McEwen, Managing Consultant at Dunsky. “By providing policy and regulatory certainty, federal action can help grid planners anticipate the needs of the marine sector and allow it to play a larger role in decarbonizing our economy and improving the health of our port communities.”

The report also recommends that shore power be integrated into existing and planned port expansions where it can be added at a lower cost. For example, additional shore power capacity is already part of the new development plans at the Contrecoeur Terminal at the Port of Montreal and the Robert Banks 2 Terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

“Despite government funding for shore power, the cost of new infrastructure is still a barrier for ports wanting to implement shore power and is causing ports like the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and the Port of Quebec to halt plans,” says Brent Dancey, Director of Marine Climate Action at Oceans North. “Our next step with this report is to engage governments, ports, and port communities to revive shore power projects and explore funding solutions that leverage the $5 billion federal Trade Diversification Corridor Fund and work with the international companies responsible for degrading air quality in port communities to pay their fair share of cleaning up the mess.”

For more information, please contact:

Alex Tesar
Director of Communications
Oceans North
[email protected]