Port of Kiel inaugurates new shore power plant at Ostuferhafen with MSC Euribia

The inauguration marked a second milestone for the port, which for the first time, broke the 1m mark for the number of cruise passengers handled in a single season only a few days prior. 

Claus stated the port hopes to supply about 100 cruise calls with shore power next year, including 60 at the Ostseekai Terminal and 40 through the newly inaugurated Ostuferhafen shore power plant, and said Kiel aimed to supply green shore power to all ships using the technology by 2030 at the latest. 

From 2024, Kiel will be able to provide shore power to six vessels at a time, using green power acquired from Scandinavia.  

€17m investment 

The plant, installed at a cost of €17m, was declared operational during a ceremony on Saturday attended by Schleswig-Holstein Federal State Prime Minister Daniel Günther, Lord Mayor of Kiel Ulf Kämpfer, representatives of the port management, master of MSC Euribia capt. Christopher Pugh, senior representatives of the cruise line, and technical partner Siemens, which supplied the new system and has been responsible for Kiel's previous shore power installations. 

Out of the total amount invested, €11m was covered by grants provided equally by the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein and the Federal German Government. 

Shore power at all cruise berths

Introduction of the plant means facilities are now in place to provide shore power at all of Kiel’s cruise ship berths. 

The plant comprises two separate shore power systems with capacity to supply up to three vessels in parallel. 

The first of the two systems, connected to four berths at Ostuferhafen, is designed to supply a ferry and a cruise ship at a time. It has an output of 16 MVA, and can supply passenger vessels with a frequency of 50 or 60 Hz and a voltage of 6.6 kV or 11 kV. 

The second shore power system, with a 50 Hz grid frequency, is designed exclusively for RoRo ships and connected to two berths with a voltage of 6.6 kV or 11 kV up to a maximum output of 5 MVA.   

Integration tests with MSC Euribia

September 23 saw integration testing with MSC Euribia continue, in preparation for the vessel receiving shore power on a regular basis. 

MSC Cruises is using Ostuferhafen – located outside the city centre – as the turnaround port for MSC Euribia and plans to carry on doing so in the years ahead. The line signed an agreement in June for its ships to plug into Kiel’s local power grid when it calls at the port 20 times during summer 2024. The line’s flagship accounts for an important share of the cruise calls planned for Kiel where shore power will be used. 

During Saturday’s ceremony, Christian Hein, MD, MSC Cruises Germany, described the use of shore power as an important element of the operator's environmental efforts, ‘Together with the use of LNG as fuel, improving energy efficiency, using innovative wastewater treatment and waste recycling, we are taking an important step towards further reducing our impact on the environment,’ he said. 

MSC Cruises’ ships have, since February 2023, used shore power at the ports of Southampton, UK and Kristiansand, Norway and successful test trials have been conducted at the Norwegian ports of Haugesund, Bergen and Alesund as well as Warnemunde in Germany.

Shore power capability has been fitted on all MSC Cruises’ new ships as standard since 2017 and together with retrofits completed on other vessels, 67% of MSC Cruises’ total capacity is equipped with the technology.  More ships will be retrofitted as the ports on their sailing itineraries make shore power available.

Linden Coppell, VP sustainability & ESG, MSC Cruises, remarked, ‘The inauguration of shoreside power at Kiel’s Ostuferhafen terminal is another step forward on our decarbonisation journey. We expect around 15 new ports between 2024 and 2026 to be added to the list of ports with shore-power facilities that MSC Cruises can use to access the electricity grids in Europe. This further demonstrates our commitment to, and continued progress towards, decarbonisation, as well as reducing emissions from our vessels  while berthed in ports.’ 

MSC Euribia will also use the shore power facility at Hamburg during its winter 2023/24 winter season in Northern Europe.

MSC Euribia

MSC Euribia performed an industry-first in June this year when it sailed from France to Denmark and demonstrated the potential to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions cruising through the use of renewable bio-LNG. The four day voyage saw an overall saving of 43t of fuel.