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Eric Ng

Hong Kong shipping firm Wah Kwong Maritime Transport has teamed up with a European partner to build shoreside power-supply projects in China and North Asia to capture opportunities from tightening emission regulations at ports.
Wah Kwong last month formed a 50-50 joint venture with NatPower Marine, a developer of maritime energy-transition projects that is part of Luxembourg-based renewable energy firm NatPower Group.
The venture aims to form partnerships to build and operate grid-connected infrastructure at ports in North Asia, equipping them to provide electricity to docked vessels. This allows ships to shut off their diesel engines and generators while at berth, as well as charge up batteries for near-shore propulsion.
“Our objective is to create power-supply points in 120 marine locations and form a global network,” said Stefano Sommadossi, CEO of NatPower Marine UK. “As some 80 per cent of global merchandise trade originates from Asia and Europe, we aim to create green corridors.”
On September 15, NatPower Marine said it would embark on £250 million (US$336 million) of shore-side power supply infrastructure projects at UK ports over the next five years.
Starting from 2030, European Union regulations mandate the use of onshore power or alternative zero-emission technologies at certain ports. It will become mandatory at all EU ports that have onshore power facilities from 2035.
In Hong Kong, the government and industry considered building shoreside power infrastructure as much as a decade ago, but an insufficient number of vessels fitted to use the power meant the economics did not make sense, said Wah Kwong’s chairman Hing Chao.
Now a significant portion of ships have the ability, especially cruise ships, so the time is ripe for installing such infrastructure, said Chao, a third-generation leader of the 73-year-old family-owned shipowner and operator.

Cruise ships are a major source of emissions in port cities due to the power needs of their thousands of passengers.
“Around a quarter of cruise vessels are already shore power-ready,” he said. “Most of them run on fixed routes, and the major ports they visit already have shore power, so for Hong Kong not to have such facilities could potentially deter some vessels from coming to the city.”
Policy support would accelerate the development of shoreside power projects as part of “green ports” development, he added.
In mainland China, some city governments have taken a carrot-and-stick approach to encouraging shore power, providing subsidies and imposing penalties.
For example, in Shanghai, container and cruise ships have been charged a preferential shore power tariff of 0.3 yuan (US$0.04) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) since 2023.
Terminal operators are entitled to subsidies of 0.4 to 0.7 yuan per kWh of shore power sold, depending on their annual sales volume. Each port’s total entitlement is capped at 1 million yuan a year.
Since mid-May this year, the Ministry of Transport has also revised regulations, stipulating that ports with facilities must provide shore power to compatible vessels that dock for three or more hours. Such vessels must take the supply to reduce emissions.
Port operators flouting the rules will be fined 10,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, depending on the ships’ power generating capacity and the severity of the violation.
Cases are considered severe if a port operator fails to provide shore power at least six times over 12 months or has facilities out of service for more than six months.
“China’s green and smart ports development is ahead of the world,” Hing said. “There is no reason why Hong Kong should not step up our game, since a lot of the technical know-how, including potential supply chain partners, are all in China. Hong Kong is low-hanging fruit.”


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Firm enters joint venture to cut diesel emissions by building onshore power hookups for ships in ports


Firm enters joint venture to cut diesel emissions by building onshore power hookups for ships in ports.


Hong Kong shipper Wah Kwong joins push for greener energy at ports

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Firm enters joint venture to cut diesel emissions by building onshore power hookups for ships in ports

Firm enters joint venture to cut diesel emissions by building onshore power hookups for ships in ports