Decarbonisation measures in small and medium-sized ports (SMPs) is an area that has received limited attention despite the extensive literature on port sustainability. These measures are especially important as the share of emissions from shipping increases, along with the sense of urgency to start reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is especially evident in the rising pressure to improve enviromental footprints of logistics operations and transport. Heavy-duty transport shipping, such as in ports, is considered a hard-to-abate sector, where environmental upgrading mainly occurs through improved energy management and efficiency. To make decarbonisation efforts more effective, it is neccessary to understand patterns regarding implementation of decarbonisation measures, as well as factors associated with their implementation in general and the implementation of alternative fuels and onshore power supply (OPS).
Dr. Markus Steen, Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF, along with Senior Research Scientist Dr. Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan from both SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dr. Lillian Hansen and Dr. Hanne Seter, from SINTEF, have set out to identify decarbonisation measures implemented by SMPs and explore the factors influencing their implementation, describing the factors as drivers and barriers. Their work is published in a peer-reviewed journal, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
The decarbonisation measures were divided into different categories: port management and policies, power and fuels, sea activities and land activities. The researchers note that “all measures can contribute to decarbonisation, but especially onshore power supply and the provision of alternative fuels are considered crucial options in this regard.” What they found is that OPS was the most prominent decarbonisation measure, along with energy efficiency in the ports’ infrastructure and increasing the ports’ knowledge. Low voltage OPS is most commnly implemented, while high voltage OPS was implemented less often, presumably because of greater economic costs and strains on the energy grid. The study found that “implementation of OPS is relatively evenly distributed regardless of port size, whereas implementation of alternative fuels seems to be more prominent in the large ports compared with those that are medium and small.”
A lot of the ports also implemented measures for reducing emissions from land activities, while alternative fuels were not implemented as often, possibly because of lack of drivers or presence of barriers associated with them. The authors find that the push from potential users as well as political steering is not so strong regarding alternnative fuels as for OPS .They also found that implementation of alternative fuels has a higher implementation complexity and requires more collaboration with both private and public stakeholders. Overall the study found that the ports take various measures to achieve decarbonisation, seemingly in accordance with different contexts, defined by implementation drivers and barriers.
The drivers of decarbonisation measures implementation were mainly percieved to be shaped by pressure (reduce emissions) and support from different actors and surroundings, such as the public, various organisations and the media, while the barriers were percieved to be economic resources, personnel resources, time, technical maturity and competence. The questionnaire results also showed that different drivers and barriers are specific to individual measures, which indicates that one-size-fits-all approach is likely not the most effective way to drive implementation of decarbonisation measures in SMPs.
Overall, the study highlights the most important and effective ways to drive the implementation of decarbonisation measures in SMPs, as well as avenues for future research on port decarbonisation and sustainability. Additionally, there’s a call for deeper insights into local influences, roles of ports in sustainability efforts, and alignment with stakeholders for low-carbon energy chains.
Journal Reference
Markus Steen, Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan, Lillian Hansen, Hanne Seter, Implementing decarbonisation measures in Norwegian ports, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Volume 23, 2024, 100993, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2023.100993
About the Authors
Markus Steen (PhD Geography) is a Senior research scientist in the research group Innovation and sustainability, Dept. of Technology Management at SINTEF Digital. In his work, Steen focuses on innovation processes, sustainability transitions and industry development. He is particularly interested in the relationship between technological innovation and transformation of established industries.
Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan (PhD Science and Technology studies) working as a Research Manager at Department of Mobility. Her research revolves around sustainability transitions in mobility systems, with a particular focus on transition work emerging between different sectors and levels of governance. Bjerkan further manages a research group that is advanced in action research methodology and that develops holistic and interdisciplinary knowledge about sustainability transitions in mobility.
Lillian Hansen (PhD Political Science), Researcher at SINTEF Community in the Department of Mobility: Social scientist and transition scholar, focusing on both technological and non-technological dimensions to understand and promote sustainable transitions in society. Employee in the Mobility department, group Green transition.
Hanne Seter (PhD Political scientist) Working as Senior Researcher at SINTEF the Mobility department. Hanne works with the application of technology in the transport system, including user surveys, evaluation of technology, and the authorities’ role in testing and implementation. Focus on testing and piloting technology, as well as learning how to interact so that the technology will be as useful as possible for society as a whole. Hanne is also work package leader for evaluation in the EU project MODI.
