QUESTION
Council Member Amanda Farias Asks EDC About Monitoring and Enforcing Shore Power Compliance
1:19:06
·
3 min
Council Member Amanda Farias inquires about the processes for monitoring and enforcing shore power usage at NYC cruise terminals. She questions the consistency of connection rates and the penalties imposed for noncompliance by cruise lines. Further discussion covers the role of Ports America in tracking ship connections, reasons for non-connection such as weather or grid capacity, and the financial incentives integrated within long-term agreements to encourage shore power use. The EDC elaborates on preferential berth agreements and the financial penalties for noncompliance, emphasizing the importance of community benefit and accountability.
Speaker 1
1:19:06
And as Consumem Brasilia stated earlier, and it's been reported that certain cruise ships fitted for shore power still often fail to connect when it import.
1:19:15
How is Shar Power usage monitored and enforced by terminal operators?
1:19:19
What penalties could potentially be imposed for noncompliance, and how is the EDC promoting the city cruise terminals to incentivize share power compliance from cruise line operators?
Speaker 7
1:19:30
That's a fantastic question.
1:19:32
Sure, Fadi.
1:19:32
Yes.
1:19:33
So there's a few mechanisms.
1:19:35
So first, I wanna just be clear that of the compatible ships that can connect to shore power, they are connecting 70% of the time, which if you look at any port in the United States, is a significantly high connection rate.
Speaker 1
1:19:47
What's the usual do do we know if there's like
Speaker 7
1:19:50
a standard and average?
1:19:52
We can look back.
1:19:53
I I think we might have that number.
1:19:55
But if we don't, we'll look back and we'll be able to report out to the council on that.
1:19:59
We do know it is higher than average significantly higher.
1:20:03
And so when they are not connecting that 30% of the time that they are not connecting shutting.
1:20:08
It is it is for 3 reasons.
1:20:12
It is for weather inclement weather.
Speaker 1
1:20:14
Mhmm.
Speaker 7
1:20:14
It is for load shedding.
1:20:16
Or it is a concern on the grid capacity.
1:20:19
It's very hot summer, you know, the grid is uploaded.
Speaker 1
1:20:23
Totally heard that on the testimony.
Speaker 7
1:20:24
So so those are the reasons.
1:20:26
To move on to the reporting piece.
1:20:27
So ports America is keeping track of every ship that comes in, whether they've connected, and if they haven't, what were the conditions that didn't allow them to connect.
1:20:36
They work with the on-site electrical engineer to ensure that the electrical engineer is providing proof that the grid couldn't make it or the weather was such.
1:20:45
Right?
1:20:45
It's between the ship's captain and the electrical engineer that make that call.
1:20:50
Lastly, this is where the long term agreements are.
1:20:53
Incredibly critical to holding these cruise lines accountable.
1:20:57
Like I mentioned in my testimony, connecting to shore power is not arbitrary.
1:21:02
It is an absolute cost savings to ship.
1:21:05
As Andrew mentioned, when ships come within the two miles of the North American coastline, the switch to the alternative fuel is very, very expensive to reduce those emissions as they're getting closer to land.
1:21:20
It is significantly more affordable to them to connect to shore power.
1:21:25
So they are already incentivized through that.
1:21:28
But that's not enough, which is why in the long term agreements, what we've done is built in a mechanism as a part of the long term agreements just because I don't think we we mentioned this.
1:21:39
The idea is you give preferential birth.
1:21:41
So it's not increasing cruise traffic.
1:21:43
It just allows the cruise lines to book the births instead of, you know, immediately they book it they get preferential birthdays, not birthdays, but birth days.
1:21:56
So when in exchange for that, we are able to extract an enormous amount of community benefit, and that is what we're doing through these agreements.
1:22:05
If they are not connected to ShorePower, there are incentive fees that are baked in because they pay dockage and wharfage per passenger that are completely redacted, and they no longer so there is a financial penalty.
1:22:18
To the cruise lines if they do not connect to shore power if it was feasible.
Speaker 1
1:22:23
Okay.
1:22:23
Do we know off the top of mind right now, penalty fees?
1:22:28
How big they are.
Speaker 7
1:22:29
It it does vary between cruise line depending on when they're coming in those preferential birthdays.
1:22:35
If if we can definitely get back to you and give you that that number.
Speaker 1
1:22:39
Yeah.
1:22:39
That would be helpful.
1:22:40
And just any data around percentages per quarter, per year, however you wanna give it of, like, who has actually been in violation or non comply science and and issued penalties.
1:22:52
And then just in terms of the the the lease agreements, I, you know, we haven't and I think I I don't wanna be misquoted here, but in over a decade, has this committee heard anything around shore power?