‘Shore power’ will help ships reduce dangerous air emissions while in port
Carnival’s new terminal will be ready in 2023
The pollution reduction technology that allows cruise ships to turn off their engines while in port is coming to PortMiami’s Carnival Cruise Line terminal.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Friday that the county plans to fund a shore power hookup at Carnival’s new PortMiami cruise terminal that will be up and running by October 2023. Shore power allows ships to plug into the local electrical grid while in port instead of idling their engines, drastically cutting climate change-inducing, dangerous air emissions.
The announcement follows the Feb. 3 publication of a Miami Herald story about the avoidable pollution from docked cruise ships and the formation on Feb. 17 of a county task force with representatives from six cruise companies and Florida Power & Light.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County submitted a $2 million grant application for the shore power hookup to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act Program. The county will contribute the remaining $8.7 million to fund the hookup, for a total price of $10,750,000.01, the application said.
Mayor Levine Cava said Carnival Cruise Line will use shore power for up to four of its ships at PortMiami starting in 2023. Five of Carnival’s 22 cruise ships in operation are equipped with shore power capability: Carnival Freedom, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Panorama and Carnival Vista.
“I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish in a short period, and we look forward to sharing more news in coming months as we move shore power forward with all six cruise line partners committed to this effort,” she said in a statement.
President of Carnival Cruise Line Christine Duffy said she’s thrilled about the planned hookup. “With PortMiami being our busiest home port and our longstanding relationship with both Miami-Dade and PortMiami, it’s a natural fit to partner together to bring shore power to the Cruise Capital of the World,” she said in a statement. A Carnival spokesman declined to comment on whether the company will be contributing to the project, and whether it plans to retrofit more ships with shore power capability.
The county’s shore power task force formed last month has not yet met. It will be comprised of former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and representatives from Carnival
Corp., Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages and Florida Power & Light, said the mayor’s communication director Rachel Johnson.
Seven U.S. ports have installed shore power for cruise ships since 2001. A PortMiami cruise ship shore power hookup would be the first in the southeastern United States.
PortMiami first considered installing shore power as early as 2009, but repeatedly delayed. The 2035 Master Plan for PortMiami, a sub-element of Miami-Dade County’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan, said the county would make investments in shore power in 2010, 2020, 2023, 2028 and 2033. Since 2010, the county has invested $700
million in building new branded cruise terminals, but none has shore power hookups.
A Miami Herald analysis of PortMiami dock reports shows at least 15 shore power capable cruise ships have visited PortMiami in the last decade, spewing avoidable emissions. EPA data and the agency’s shore power calculator show shore power could reduce carbon emissions at PortMiami by about 35%. Emissions dangerous to human health — sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide — could be cut by 67% and 99%, respectively.
In a timeline submitted to the EPA, the county estimates it will be finished planning the shore power hookup at Terminal
F by mid-2021 and designing it by the end of September. It expects to be finished with engineering permits by the end of 2021, procurement by the end of March 2022, and construction by October 2023.
Renovation of Terminal F, branded for Carnival Cruise Line, is on track to be completed by September 2022.
Other cruise terminals can be retrofitted with shore power hookups. Cruise terminals for Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings were completed in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Virgin Voyages’ Terminal V will be completed in November. A deal inked last month between MSC Cruises and Miami-Dade County said most of the construction on the company’s new terminal will be completed by November 2023.
South Beach resident Matthew Gultanoff has been urging the county to include shore power in the new cruise terminals for years. While he welcomes the news of a shore power hookup at Terminal F, he’s concerned that additional terminals are being constructed without hookups.
“Obviously I’m delighted at this news,” he said of the plans for a shore power hookup. “It’s hard not to view this as a positive step forward for Port Miami, as well as the surrounding areas. The Mayor has hinted at further developments on this front. I would urge for the latest terminals ... to be built from the beginning with shore power.”
Palm Island resident Tom Sullivan, founder of Lumber Liquidators, hosted the mayor at his home on March 8 to show her how the cruise ship exhaust makes its way to his yard. On Thursday, Sullivan sued MSC Cruises and Miami-Dade County, asking a judge to void the MSC terminal deal because it does not comply with the county’s pledged investments in shore power in the 2035 Master
Plan.
Like other cruise lines with new PortMiami terminals,
MSC has already upgraded its ships to use shore power in other ports. Sullivan thinks all ships that visit PortMiami should have to plug in.
“You can’t go outside here without breathing in exhaust,” he said. “We shouldn’t pollute the whole city just for some revenue. Even if the wind doesn’t blow toward my house, it’s blowing toward the city. They’re pumping out crap 24/7; it’s ridiculous when there’s an easy solution.”
Executive director of The CLEO Institute, a nonprofit climate crisis advocacy organization, Yoca Arditi-Rocha celebrated the plan to put a shore power hookup at the port, citing concerns about human health and climate change effects of cruise ship pollution.
“We applaud Carnival
Cruise lines, Mayor Levine Cava, and the Port for a first significant step forward in making a more sustainable and resilient cruise industry,” she said via email. “We call for the other cruise lines and seaports in Florida to follow their lead!”