Maersk Line changes its dockside fuel

NORFOLK

Maersk Line is switching to a less polluting fuel to run its ships docked at the port of Hampton Roads.

While berthed to load and unload cargo, Maersk ships will run on auxiliary engines that use low-sulfur marine gas oil, the company said in a statement. The low-sulfur fuel contains up to 95 percent less sulfur than typical marine fuel.

Air emissions from activities at the nation's roughly 360 commercial sea and river ports contribute to air-quality problems in the areas surrounding them, according to a 2009 report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Maersk Line, the Denmark-based operator of the world's largest shipping line, will be the first ocean carrier to take advantage of incentives offered by the Virginia Port Authority that encourage more environmentally friendly practices. Specifically, it is offering payments to defray the cost of burning low-sulfur marine fuel or using batteries to power ships docked at the port, the authority announced on Thursday.

The program starts next month. The incentives are part of an expansion of the Port Authority's "Green Operator" program, which offers financial support to replace older, more polluting trucks that serve mid-Atlantic ports.

"In three years there will be a federal mandate requiring all vessels plying North American waters to burn this low-sulfur fuel," Heather Wood, the authority's director of environmental affairs, said in a statement. "This is the beginning of our effort... to help ocean carriers get ahead of that mandate, but we're doing it with an eye on the positive effects for air quality in Hampton Roads."

Through the Port Authority's "fuel-switch" program, Maersk Line will get a $300,000 subsidy to fund its purchase of low-sulfur fuel for a year. The authority is contributing $75,000; the state Department of Environmental Quality, $75,000; and the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant program, $150,000.

The 13-month fuel-switch program will involve 41 Maersk Line vessels scheduled to make more than 210 calls in the port. Norfolk-based Maersk Line Limited, a sister unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, will have 18 ships in the program, the Port Authority said.

"This is where we live; this is our hometown," said Patrick Callahan, who oversees environmental matters at Maersk Line Limited.

The Port Authority also is offering a one-time, $500,000 incentive to an ocean carrier that allows the installation of a battery-powered system on one of its berthed vessels. The funds would offset the cost of installation.

Robert McCabe, 757-446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com