Cold Ironing Facilities Inaugurated at Port of Dunkirk

CMA CGM’s containership APL Singapura inaugurated on Wednesday the cold ironing facilities at the Port of Dunkirk’s Terminal des Flandres.

By plugging into an onshore electricity supply (also known as cold ironing), container ships calling at the port can shut down their auxiliary engines while still getting the power they need, particularly in order to maintain controlled temperatures in refrigerated containers.

The technology is believed to bring significant environmental benefits, including eliminating emissions of sulphur, nitrogen oxides and fine particles while ships are at berth while reducing noise pollution at the same time.

The cold ironing system installed at the Terminal des Flandres is expected to become fully operational during the first half of 2020. 

  “Given CMA CGM’s steadfast commitment to installing more environmentally responsible solutions on board its vessels, the Group supports cold ironing and we will continue to equip our fleet accordingly. We are ready to test this system with other European port authorities that are committed to using cold ironing at their container ship terminals, as the Port of Dunkirk has successfully done,” Christine Cabau Woehrel, Executive Vice President in charge of Industrial Assets – CMA CGM Group, said.

 ACTEMIUM, a consortium of two companies (Brest and Boulogne) was selected to design and supply the cold ironing system that fits into six 40-foot containers, converting the public electricity supply for use by ships at port. The system has a capacity of 8 MW ­– enough to power nearly 1,000 homes – and it has been described as one of the most powerful ever to be installed in Europe.

 The operation was co-financed by the Urban Community of Dunkirk, the Hauts-de-France region (via the European Regional Development Fund), and the Port of Dunkirk. The CMA CGM Group covered the cost of the equipment needed to connect the vessel.