Asia Cement Corporation 1st to install shore power system for cement carriers

Taiwanese company Asia Cement Corporation has completed a full shore power project for cement vessels in an effort to reduce the impact on the sea, the ecology and the environment.

The two-phase shore power project was implemented in the ports of Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung and Hualien and on four cement carriers, with a total investment of NT$37.39 million (around $1.4 million).

As explained, the company’s cement carriers will no longer use generators on board to supply electricity while berthing at port but will instead use the Taipower power supply onshore.

This will reduce the consumption of fuel, save over 1,474 tonnes of fuel per year and effectively reduce 5,329 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, which is the very first move for the cement industry in Taiwan, according to Asia Cement Corporation.

Asia Cement Corporation currently has four cement carriers responsible for transporting cement produced by the Hualien plant to various ports of Taiwan and to overseas markets.

In the past, the cement carriers have mainly used fuel oil to generate electricity for the various needs on board, which resulted in noise and air pollution.

The full shore power project is said to be in line not only with the government’s concept of promoting green harbours but also with the global trend of port transformation.

Asia Cement Corporation further said that its shore power engineering system not only reduces air pollution emissions such as carbon dioxide, sulfides and nitrogen oxides but also significantly improves the unloading efficiency of cement carriers, reducing the unloading time by 50%.

In addition, the complete shutdown of the generators will reduce the wear and tear on the equipment, extend its service life, and optimise manpower resources by redirecting the saved operational manpower to other maintenance tasks.

The technology can also be extended to other maritime operators in the future, helping to create a low carbon green port.

Asia Cement Corporation’s General Plant Manager, Chang Tzu-Pong, highlighted that in April this year, the company passed the rigorous international Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) review and became the fourth cement company in the world to set a carbon reduction target, specifically responding to the global climate control well-below 2°C. Now Asia Cement Corporation is the first cement company to complete the installation of a shore power system for cement carriers.