Electrification of quays and green port design

Abstract

The progressive decarbonization of maritime terminal design and operation includes a series of strategic decisions involving the engagement of relevant resources. The research in the field is focused on supporting these key decisions and selecting the most suitable parameters to describe the terminals’ environmental performance. Starting from an extensive data collection, the research presented in this paper involves: I) selection of environmental parameters available from public and reliable sources; II) consistency and reliability analysis of data concerning these parameters; III) search of correlation among these factors and parameters related to port terminal dimensions, equipment, and traffic; IV) selection of consolidated reliable correlations; V) use of correlations to derive priority in the implementation of the electrification of quays and other green port design criteria (e.g., dimension and equipment compatible with a certain level of emissions) or operational performances (e.g., traffic manageable with a level of tolerable emissions). The focus is on the uncertainties detected in global and local gaseous emissions estimation, with reference to container, cruise, and Ro-Ro terminals, and the identification of the potential effects of these uncertainties in the following methodological steps for appropriate modeling of the emission generation mechanisms and forecasting them depending on the composition of the fleets calling the ports. In this study, these uncertainties in emission factors are presented, interpreted, and correlated with various parameters in view of their systematic use in the definition of green design of ports, starting from the prioritization of the quays to be electrified.