Reduction of CO2 emissions with automatic mooring systems. The case of the port of Santander

Özet

The revolutions in the maritime industry resulting from the implementation of integrated transportsystems (bulk) and containerization (regular lines) at first had little effect on traditional mooring systemsfor ships in port. However, the research into innovation in automated mooring systems with increasinglyadvanced technologies carried on regardless.The so-called “Automatic Mooring Systems” (AMS), automatic systems that allow vessels to be mooredwithout ropes, are being increasingly implemented in numerous ports in many different countries in theworld, particularly in those whose traffic volumes have allowed the threshold of profitability of theseinfrastructures to be reached. But besides the financial benefits, the implantation of the AMS is havingpositive effects on the environment by reducing CO2 emissions in many commercial ports.The present work aims to measure for the first time the reduction in the CO2 emissions of merchantvessels as a consequence of the substitution of traditional mooring systems with the new automaticsystems, continuing along the lines of previous works in the field of the reduction in CO2 emissions inports.The estimation is made by applying the EPA and ENTEC “bottom-up” methodologies to the traffic inthe port of Santander (Spain) in the year 2014.The implementation of the AMS, when compared to the traditional mooring systems, leads to areduction in CO2 emissions of 76.78% calculated using the EPA method and 76.63% using the ENTECmethod. Hence, the Port Authorities in their long-term planning decisions should promote the introductionof automatic mooring systems wherever the profitability thresholds of traffic allow it, as this willlead to significant environmental benefits by substantially reducing CO2 emissions during the maneuversof merchant ships in maritime commercial ports