The shore-to-ship power projects were also significant
milestones at the POLB. We were the prime consultant
for the shore power projects at Pier J and Pier C, and we
were the electrical subconsultant for shore power at Pier
G Berth 236. The shore power for Piers E & F were done as
part of the Middle Harbor redevelopment project. and the yard hopper trucks are also diesel and gas
powered. There’s considerable grant money currently
offered to electrify diesel powered equipment. This will
ultimately drive the need for banks of charging stations
to accommodate the fleets of vehicles and cranes used at
these terminals.
What are some unique demands of designing port
infrastructure?
KS: Ports have unique environmental concerns. Because
of old terminal practices, there’s hazardous and
possibly contaminated soil that needs to be addressed
and designs will need to deal with encountering these
situations. Between automation and electrifying the equipment, the
trend is getting emissions out of the port and increasing
electrical grid usage at the terminals.
The design of medium-voltage infrastructure for ports is
also such a niche market. At ports, there’s a lot of niche
jargon and equipment that only they use. When I began
working on terminal design, it took a few months just
to learn all the acronyms and equipment used, such as
reefers—which are refrigerated containers that need to
plug into power once they’re taken off the ship to keep
their contents cold.
There’s also unique operating requirements for ports, not
only because of the unique equipment, but also due to
international standards versus standard U.S. electrical
voltages. The shore-to-ship power is 6.6kV which is an
odd voltage for U.S. standards, but compatible with
international container ships.
What forces do you believe will have the biggest impact
on port design in the future?
KS: There are two ongoing trends and they both overlap,
the first is terminal automation. The theory behind
automation is that if the containers are handled by
machines rather than humans, that they can work faster
and more efficiently, 24 hours a day. There are only two
fully-automated terminals in the U.S., POLB Pier E, at
Middle Harbor, and the POLA TraPac Terminal.
Terminal automation growth leads to the second trend,
which is more electrification and less emissions at ports.
Although Pier E is fully electric, this is not the case at
other terminals. Even if shore power is available, gantry
and transtainer cranes that move containers around
in the yard, still run on diesel. The top picks that take
a container and place them in stacks or on a truck
How are ports addressing the challenge of rapidly
growing global maritime trade?
KS: This is the case for automation and mega-terminals
like Pier E. They’re doing everything they can to turn
ships faster, to get trucks in and out faster, so they don’t
keep a container sitting in the terminal as long—basically
speeding up the processing of goods. Everyone wins
when the containers are moved faster, which is the whole
point of automation.
How are ports reducing emissions and energy
consumption? Are there other environmental concerns
ports need to consider?
KS: Although we’ve talked about reducing emissions,
that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re reducing energy
consumption. In fact, it may be going up, we’re just
moving it from one energy source to another. The actual
energy the port uses is generated from power plants,
some are hydro-electric, solar natural gas, and nuclear.
Although emissions may be simply moving from one
place to another, power generated from a power plant
will be more efficient and have less emissions than power
from the diesel engine of a ship.
How is automation changing the port landscape?
KS: Running a terminal is very labor-intensive and the
downside to automation may be that there are some
manual tasks that are eliminated, meaning less need
for human labor. The upside would be that all the
electrical equipment required to automate will need
to be maintained and manpower will be needed in this
capacity. Crane operators, reefer mechanics and the like
will always be needed, but automation will change the
types of jobs available at ports in the future.
9