Fuel saving and reduction of emissions in ports with cold ironing applications

The progress of economic globalization, the rapid growth of international trade and maritime transportation have played a significant role in providing international cargo and passenger transportation. Seaports all over the world are suffering from the problem of fuel consumption and exhaust gases coming by ships during their stopover in ports. In Italy, the emissions of the industrial and energy sectors have been reduced (almost 50% between 1998 and 2012), but the sulfur oxide (SOx ) from the maritime sector has almost doubled. The national and international maritime traffic is responsible for 80% of total emissions attributable to transportation. In this paper firstly we propose a method to compare the costs of various shore-side power sources connections with those obtained by use of auxiliary engines on board; two numerical examples have been developed. The results, in terms of costs and reduction of exhaust, have been particularly discussed.