Hamburg Proceeds with Shore Power at All Terminals for Large Containerships

Less than a year after becoming the first port in Europe to offer shore power for large containerships, Hamburg, Germany is on track to complete the installation of shore power capabilities at all its terminals for large containerships. Testing commenced last week at the third of the port’s container terminals with officials saying they remain on track to provide shore power at all the large containership terminals by the end of this year.

The port is well ahead of the EU mandate requiring the use of shore power. Regulations mandating shore power be phased in starting in 2030 for containerships and passenger vessels over 5,000 gross tons. By 2035, all EU ports are required to have an on-shore power supply or alternative zero-emission technologies.

Last week, a further important milestone for the sustainable development of the Port of Hamburg was reached as the shore-side power station of the Hamburg Port Authority at HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) completed its first practical test. The first “ship integration test” was conducted and in the coming weeks, the terminal will continue to increase its power. Further test runs have already been planned to integrate the supply of shore-side power for containerships into regular operations in the Port of Hamburg.

The testing was done with the MSC Athens (110,853 dwt). It is one of the company’s smaller vessels with a capacity of 8,800 TEU but is a stepping stone to the larger vessels.

“Every successful ship integration test brings us one step closer to integrating the power stations into regular operations,” said Friedrich Stuhrmann, Chief Commercial Officer of HPA.

With the power station at CTA, the third shore-side power station for containerships in the Port of Hamburg is now in the transitional phase leading up to regular operations. Additionally, the power station at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai is expected to be ready this year. The 18,000 TEU box ship CMA CGM Vasco de Gama became the first vessel to plug into shore power at the Container Terminal Hamburg in May 2024.

To facilitate shore power connections to box ships, Hamburg began investments in 2022 for the necessary infrastructure culminating in a plant that will operate at the container terminal providing connections for three mega-ship berths. Each has a connection capacity of 7.5 MVA. The plant will supply the ships with renewable energy from the public grid. Half of the funding for the shore power installation at Container Terminal Hamburg came from the German government through the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.

MSC announced in June 2024 that it had agreed to work with Hamburg to install shore power for its terminal. Later last year MSC became the lead investor in the port operator along with the City of Hamburg.

“The integration of shore power into our fleet is an important step towards sustainable shipping,” said
Nils Kahn, Managing Director, MSC Germany. The shipping company reports it owns approximately 40 vessels that can be charged with shore-side electricity. The number continues to grow as it takes delivery of its newbuilds.