More vessels are now connected to Oakland’s shore power grid

The port of Oakland has extended its high-voltage cable system to boost access of vessels to shore power grid. Now the port offers a 200-foot cable-on-reel, bolstering efforts to curb diesel emissions from ships.  The Port said the breakthrough will accelerate the program that has helped cut emissions 76 percent in Oakland since 2009.

So far, nearly 400 vessels were equipped to plug into Oakland’s landside electrical system and ships sometimes berth beyond the reach of their onboard power cables. The extended equipment will be deployed by Oakland International Container Terminal and it will connect to ships that can’t closely align with landside electrical vaults at berth. When the ships plug into the vaults, they’ll switch off onboard diesel engines and rely on grid power.  The project is expected to prevent diesel emissions during Oakland calls.

The terminal’s new $230,000 cable system, a 10-foot-tall reel, is affixed to a trailer. The mobile platform can be deployed alongside any vessel and the cable will connect ships to one of the marine terminal’s 18 shorepower electrical vaults. The Port said its engineers have overseen two successful trials of the mobile cable system.

Shorepower is one of a series of steps employed to reduce ship emissions in Oakland.  The others include:

• Converting ships to cleaner-burning low-sulfur fuel when they near the California coast;
• Moving ships quickly in-and-out of Port so they’re not sent to anchor in San Francisco Bay with engines running while awaiting berths; and
• Consolidating cargo on fewer but larger ships to reduce the number of vessel calls.