How do you plug in a cruise ship? - “Your Moment In Tech”

Holland America Cruise Line has converted their fleet to be able to connect to shore power while in port. This involves creating a room for high-voltage switchboard panels, making an entrance on the side of the ship, and integrating the power board with the ship's power distribution. Around 30 ports worldwide currently offer shore power to cruise vessels, and more are expected to start providing this service. The cost savings for cruise lines are not significant, but the main driver is the ability to use different power sources and reduce local emissions. The guarantee of clean power depends on the source, such as hydro, wind, solar, or conventional power plants. The amount of power needed depends on the size of the vessel, with an average of around five megawatts. Ports are increasing their network capacity to accommodate multiple cruise ships, and the use of nuclear power is not excluded as a future option. Overall, using shore power is seen as a win-win for both the industry and the The following interview took place November 20th, 2023, and is a copyrighted production of the Call Radio Communications Group. How in the hell do you plug in a cruise ship? Your moment in tech is next. While the topic of global warming is not without controversy, there are some common sense that just makes sense. Now, that's Holland America Cruise Line, HollandAmerica.com, has converted their fleet to be able to connect to shore power while they are in port. With us today is Jack Keiger, who's the chief engineer on board Holland's MS Konigstam, and chief electrician, Vincent Ushadel, and are here to help give us the details. We'll start with Vincent. What does it take to refit the ships? Well, to refit the ships, first of all, you need to create a room where you can fit high-voltage switchboard panel, preferably on both sides. And on the side of the ship, of course, you need to make an entrance, so you create a steel watertight door. And then the power board needs to be integrated and automated with the ship's power distribution and the network. And then, yeah, by that, you automatically can, as smooth as possible, transfer the power from shore to ship or ship to shore, whatever direction you want to go. Yeah, so it does take quite a bit, but it's all doable, of course. We'll talk with Jack now. Jack, how many ports are expected to be able to offer the shore power? Well, at the moment, there are around 30 ports in the world which do provide shore power to cruise vessels. And it's among various countries, so we have the USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands. And there are a lot of other ports also providing shore power where cruise vessels dock. And expectations are that we're going to see a fast increase in ports where these services are being provided. We'll go back to Vincent, and we'll talk about the cost savings. Is there actual cost savings for cruise lines? I think it's cheaper, because otherwise, we probably wouldn't do it, and it's not very much cheaper. I think it's more the philosophy that, obviously, we can use a different power, either hydro, nuclear, or we don't have any local emissions among the port. So I think that's the driver. And obviously, prices vary around the world. So some may be relatively cheaper, otherwise, maybe slightly more costly. But that's not the driver towards going to shore power. Going back to Jack Dale, what are the guarantees of clean power? Are there standards that the ports have to maintain to keep a clean, steady power for the ships? So basically, there needs to be a guarantee of power. And where we are, it kind of depends on if it's considered clean power or not. So for example, in the Pacific Northwest and in Norway and Sweden, the power is typically provided by hydro power plants. In other countries, it may be wind or solar or from conventional power plants. So there are standards set up for all the other various cruise lines with all the same ports, so they're all getting the same amount of power? That kind of depends on where we are and also about the capacity of the shore-side network. So for example, in San Diego last year, there was sufficient power for only one cruise ship. But this year, there is sufficient power for two cruise ships at the same time. And that leads to my next question, Vincent. How much power is actually needed to maintain a cruise ship? Yeah, that kind of depends on the size of a vessel. So on our vessel, we use around six megawatts at a voltage level of 11,000 volts. But then other ships, for example, they are fitted with 6,600 volts, and they in general use about two to three megawatts. So really, it depends on the size of the vessel, but on average, I would say around five. Jack, going back to something that was just mentioned just a little bit ago, the question of when there are multiple ships in port at the same time, and some of these ships are megaships coming online, will there be enough power? Typically, there are, because otherwise, we wouldn't plug in. But what we see now is that all ports are basically increasing their network to provide power to more cruise ships. So for example, in San Diego, last year, we had sufficient power for one cruise ship. This year, we have two. And it kind of depends on demand. So if there's the demand, then you see a trend that the ports actually increase the capacity and will allow for cruise ships to plug in. In closing, is the use of nuclear power in the future? There is a lot of technologies being studied in the future. So to comply with the 2050 zero emission regulations, it's difficult to say which way to go. There's a lot of research and development being done, and I think nuclear power is not excluded from the list of resources at the moment. So yeah, the possibilities are certainly there. Sounds like this idea is a win-win for us and the environment. For Your Moment in Tech, this is Jay Melnick.