Hong Kong pulls plug on on-shore power supply for cruise ships
Officials say plan to power cruise ships from land too costly as disappointed green groups insist system would have reduced emissions
Plans for plug-in power at the Kai Tak terminal have been temporarily shelved as it would be a costly system few cruise liners around the world could or would use, environmental authorities say.
The announcement drew disappointment from the city's green groups who believe building on-shore power recharging facilities can help reduce emissions and ultimately save lives.
But while plugging into electric power on land, rather than recharging from the vessel's running engines, could "eliminate" ship emissions at berth, the Environmental Protection Department said such facilities would cause the two-berth terminal to be "significantly underutilised".
Out of the 60 cruise terminals in the Asia Pacific, only five ports were considering on-shore power supply (OPS) in the coming five to 10 years, the department said, in a paper that is to be discussed at the Legislative Council environmental affairs panel next week.
The findings were based on a study by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department in 2013 on the feasibility of installing on-shore power at Kai Tak.
Installing such a system would take 60 months to prepare, HK$315 million to build and cost up to HK$14 million per year in operating costs, the paper said.
The department also found that only 35 international cruise ships would be equipped with on-shore power systems by the end of this year - about 16 per cent of all international cruise ships. Most of those vessels also plied North American rather than Asian routes, where there was at least seven terminals equipped with plug-in facilities.