The Carnival Conquest cruise ship recently was able to plug into a specially built electrical substation at PortMiami and fully shut down its engines, marking the first time a Southeastern port has provided “shore power” to a docked ship. PortMiami soon will offer the electrical service at five of its 11 cruise terminals, allowing berthed ships to shut down their engines and reduce their emissions by as much as 98%.
Cruise ships average about eight hours berthed at the port for each voyage. The reduced emissions are akin to removing 7,500 cars from the road, the port says.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava calls shore power “my personal dream and initiative.” The $125-million project was funded by state and federal grants and Florida Power & Light along with cruise companies Carnival, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Royal Caribbean Group and Virgin Voyages.
In the first year, the port anticipates ships will plug in for electricity 350 times. FPL monitors the usage and provides the port with an accounting. The port then passes the bill to the cruise companies, says PortMiami CEO Hydi Webb. Electricity may cost the companies more than relying on their engines in port, but it’s part of an industry commitment to reducing carbon output.
Carnival, for example, says it already surpassed its 2023 shore power goal, with two-thirds of its cruise ships outfitted for plug-in power. PortMiami originally planned to add shore power to just one terminal, Webb says. But “all the cruise lines jumped on,” so the port expanded its scope.
It takes a ship repeated visits and dockings before it can fully shut its engines down, says Becky Faith, PortMiami’s assistant director for planning, environment and resiliency. “These are very complicated electrical systems,” she says, receiving enough electricity to power up a small town. To ensure it’s done safely “requires a detailed, step-by-step process” in which one engine at a time is tested.
PortMiami welcomed nearly 7.3 million cruise passengers in 2023.
In addition to reducing overall emissions, the local community will benefit from the cleaner air. “Local residents notice when the system is not working,” a 2022 EPA Shore Power Technology Assessment said.
“Shore power is a great example of progress in tourism and clean energy converging,” Levine Cava says.
Fewer than 20 cruise ports globally offer shore power, according to Cruise Line International. But that’s expected to expand rapidly, especially in the European Union, which requires shore power for essential ports by 2030.
Meanwhile, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale plans to add shore power to as many as eight terminals. A 2023 study projected a $160-million cost to build the infrastructure for it. The port applied for nearly $128 million in federal Environmental Protection Agency funding through the Clean Ports Grant Program. Construction won’t start for at least another year, but the port hopes to have it completed by the end of 2028.