Ships can now draw energy from the shore everywhere at the Port of Helsinki's newest ferry terminal.

The Finnish seaport now provides onshore power supply (OPS) at the city centre harbours to all liner traffic vessels visiting Helsinki regularly and mooring for longer.

"Ship traffic to Tallinn operates with turnaround times as short as less than an hour, but vessels can utilise OPS when they overnight in Helsinki," says the port.

The port authority also underlined, "Providing onshore power more extensively than before is one of the most important measures in the Port of Helsinki's carbon neutrality programme. The greatest positive environmental impact can be achieved with regular liner traffic in particular, but in the future, OPS will be provided in Helsinki to cruise ships and cargo vessels as well." Concerning the latter, the port will provide OPS in its Vuosaari Harbour for Finnlines' Travemünde traffic in 2023.

According to the port's Head of Sustainable Development, Andreas Slotte, "Shore power reduces the emissions of berthed vessels by 50-80%. This figure is probably closer to 80%, but we're making a conservative estimate, as vessels are not heated with shore power during colder weather."

The Port of Helsinki intends to make its operations carbon-neutral by 2025.

Photo: YIT