Across Europe, ports are racing to meet their ambitious targets on cutting carbon emissions. The shipping industry, responsible for nearly 3.0% of global CO2 emissions, is under growing pressure to decarbonise its operations - and the first battleground is at berth.
The concept of cold ironing, or alternative marine power (AMP), enables ships to plug into the local grid instead of running diesel generators while in port. In theory, the solution is simple. In practice, it exposes a much larger problem: Europe's port-side power infrastructure is not yet ready for the energy transition it promises.
Voltage gap
Most AMP systems require voltages of around 20 kilovolts to serve large commercial vessels efficiently. Yet, the average European port grid supplies just 6.0kV, a level suitable for cranes and yard equipment, not for oceangoing ships drawing megawatts of continuous power.
This voltage gap represents a significant technical and financial challenge. To close it, ports must invest in transformers, converters, and high-performance cable systems capable of handling higher loads safely and efficiently.
But beyond the hardware, there is a deeper question that policymakers and engineers alike must confront.
Beyond fossil and intermittent sources
Electrifying the quayside is an essential first step, but if the energy still comes from fossil fuels, the environmental benefits are limited. Even renewables - crucial as they are - face the constraints of intermittency and land use.
For ports aiming to become long-term energy hubs capable of supporting heavy industry, hydrogen production, and vessel charging, a new energy source will eventually be required. Increasingly, the answer points towards fusion.
From science to infrastructure
Fusion energy, long regarded as the 'holy grail' of clean power, is no longer confined to theory. It is being built and tested with European technology.
At Tratos, we have seen this transformation first-hand. For over a decade, we have supplied advanced conductors and superconducting cables to the world's leading fusion programmes, including ITER, CERN, EUROfusion, and ENEA's Divertor Tokamak Test Facility (DTT) in Italy.
These projects demonstrate that fusion is not a dream - it is an engineering reality in progress. The conductors we supply today carry the same scale of power that tomorrow's ports will need. Our portfolio includes: cable-in-conduit (CIC) conductors for the Superconducting Conductor EXperiment (SUCCEX) Magnet (2025); aluminium-stabilised conductors for detector magnets (2024); CIC conductors for DTT's superconducting magnetic system (2021); MgB2 cable assemblies for CERN's High-Luminosity LHC (2019); and mineral-insulated copper conductors for ITER's In-Vessel Coils (2019).
Each project pushes the boundaries of what high-current, high-voltage cable systems can achieve - knowledge directly transferable to the design of next-generation port infrastructure.
Ports as future energy hubs
Ports have always adapted to global change - from sail to steam, coal to oil, and now to electrons. As Europe builds the energy systems of the future, ports will become connectors not only of trade but of power.
To succeed, we must design quayside systems that are fusion-ready: capable of transmitting large volumes of stable, zero-carbon electricity whenever it arrives. That means building with foresight - using standards, materials, and cable technologies that can evolve alongside the grid.
A call to engineers and policymakers
The transition to clean ports is not simply an environmental agenda; it is an infrastructure revolution. Governments, utilities, and port authorities must collaborate to align grid upgrades, funding models, and technical standards.
The UK is investing significantly in fusion energy, with a £2.5 billion commitment over five years, as part of its Industrial Strategy. The Spherical Tokamak for Energy, a fusion plant concept proposed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, is central to this initiative. While the long-term benefits of fusion energy are acknowledged, the timelines for deployment and site development remain uncertain.
Fusion energy's applicability in the UK port industry is currently in the research and development phase, and will not be commercially available for some time, with a prototype power plant expected by 2040. However, its potential future applications in ports include providing vast, clean, and reliable base-load power for port operations, electric vehicle charging, and potentially for producing green hydrogen for use as a sustainable marine fuel.
The Baltic region, with its tradition of maritime innovation and growing renewable base, is ideally positioned to lead. With strategic investment and cross-border cooperation, it can become a model for sustainable port electrification across Europe.
Impossible can be engineered
Clean shipping will not happen without clean power, and clean power requires the right infrastructure. From superconductors to shore connections, the lesson is the same: energy transitions are built, not imagined.
As Tratos' CEO, Prof. Maurizio Bragagni Esq OBE, notes, "Fusion shows us that the impossible can be engineered. The same determination that built the world's most advanced conductors must now build the ports of the future."
Ports need power - and the power of innovation will determine which ones will lead the way.