Passenger vessels in the South Korean Port of Incheon will soon be able to plug into the local power grid. ABB will install the shore-to-ship power solution – a first in South Korea – which will enable vessels to cut emissions, noise and vibrations at berth.

The installation contract is part of a pilot scheme. ABB’s scope of delivery includes the installation of an onshore power connection at the Incheon passenger terminal. This consists of an enclosure featuring a 2000 kVA capacity Static Frequency Convertor with 50/60 HZ output, a transformer, a Neutral Grounding Registor Unit and an outdoor enclosure.

‘As the first agreement covering shore-to-ship power in South Korea, this is a truly significant breakthrough for ABB,’ says Juha Koskela, Managing Director, ABB Marine & Ports. ‘We are honored to be selected by IPA to support their efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships, as well as moving towards increasingly sustainable port operations.’

Tourism Hub

In addition to a new 160 million US dollar ferry terminal opened in April 2019, Port of Incheon inaugurated South Korea’s largest cruise terminal in June this year. Given its metropolitan location and IPA’s ambitions to develop its “Golden Harbor” vision for Incheon as a new tourism hub for Northeast Asia, environmental credentials rank highly in port priorities.

An increasing number of ports around the world offer shore power for ferries, as well as other passenger vessel types. There is a clear interest to lower pollution in ports, and one way of doing that is to install shore power and have a clean grid feeding to it.

Picture: The Port of Incheon seeks to become a new tourism hub for Northeast Asia (by Incheon Port Authority).