Following six years of pioneering energy transition achievements, WPCAP activities to integrate into IAPH
At the IAPH 2024 World Ports Conference today, it was announced that the activities of the World Ports Climate Action Program (WPCAP) will be integrated into the IAPH Climate and Energy technical committee with completion set for January 2025.
WPCAP was established at a global climate action summit in San Francisco in 2018 and led by the Port of Rotterdam with the active participation over the years from the Ports of Antwerp – Bruges, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Hamburg, HAROPA, Long Beach, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, Valencia, Vancouver, Yokohama and Amsterdam. These ports sent a clear message to the maritime industry and regulators that bolder climate action as well as more attention on local air quality was necessary and that ports have an important contribution to make towards this goal.
By “acting local and thinking global”, these pioneering ports have cooperated to advance common and ambitious public policy approaches on emission reductions within larger geographical areas, accelerated adoption of feasible renewable power-to-ship solutions, supported the supply chain development of commercially viable, sustainable low-carbon fuels and accelerated efforts to decarbonise cargo-handling facilities at ports. WPCAP has been supported over the years by IAPH, providing a dedicated portal for the working groups as well as cooperation from the Association’s Clean Marine Fuels Working Group.
IAPH Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven commented on the integration: “We look forward to the pooling of resources within the IAPH Climate and Energy Technical Committee which will further focus inclusive efforts of both large and small ports worldwide on industry decarbonisation. We shall continue to aim at ensuring all ports have the necessary tools and safety procedures to accelerate power to ship solutions at berth, facilitate port calls by ships using new fuels, enable port to select bunkering operators effectively and standardise bunkering protocols, terminal readiness and future ship-to-shore alternative fuel cargo transfer standards across the industry.”
Eric van de Schans, Director Environmental Management at Port of Rotterdam added: “With a new ambitious IMO GHG Strategy in place, an onshore power mandate within Europe and the development of the Port Readiness Level methodology to communicate alternative fuel readiness for our ports, I think WPCAP has helped to create three successes that made it possible and also logical that today we integrate these activities within IAPH. As leading ports we will continue to push with IAPH to deliver on climate action and local air quality improvements.”
Port Readiness Level Tool for new fuels launched at the #IAPH2024 World Ports Conference
Today also saw the launch of the first digital version of the Port Readiness Level for Marine Fuels (PRL-MF) self-assessment tool. This new digital iteration of the tool supports the assessment of the readiness levels of ports for bunkering operations involving the different low- and zero-carbon fuels.
Established as a pilot project in 2022, following joint work by the IAPH Clean Marine Fuels Working Group, WPCAP and Mission Innovation’s Zero Emission Shipping Mission, the PRL-MF is a fuel-agnostic framework that ports can use to self-assess their readiness and identify areas requiring further development to facilitate bunkering of a new low- or zero-carbon marine fuel.
Previously only available as a downloadable PDF, WPCAP worked with U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop this easy-to-use digital tool that includes a list of assessment criteria, with guiding information to support port efforts across research, development, and deployment phases. It facilitates self-assessment by bringing all relevant port personnel working together in a single system where information can be exchanged, saved and communicated as needed. This tool is for use by the ports with the input of any relevant members of a port community, including the port authority, national maritime authority, ship-operating customers, and governments.
“It is important for ports to be able to say to ship owners: ‘we will be ready with this fuel, at this time, and this is what you can expect from us’ – and this tool does just that,” commented Rinske van de Meer, Policy Advisor at the Port of Rotterdam and Program Manager of WPCAP. “The Port Readiness Framework allows you to communicate to all stakeholders where your port is in the journey to supply new sustainable fuels or allow vessels using these fuels to bunker – from the research phase, to development and finally, deployment and bunkering of a new fuel”.
For more information about the PRL tool, please use the contact form on the portal.
Story contact: Victor Shieh, IAPH Communications Director : victor.shieh@iaphworldports.org
Explainer: Port Readiness Level for Marine Fuel (PRL-MF) digital self-assessment tool
The first digital version of the Port Readiness Level for Marine Fuels (PRL-MF) self-assessment tool is now available. This new digital iteration of the tool supports the assessment of the readiness levels of ports for bunkering operations involving the different low- and zero-carbon fuels.
The PRL-MF is a fuel-agnostic framework that ports can use to self-assess their readiness and identify areas requiring further development to facilitate bunkering of a new low- or zero-carbon marine fuel.
Previously only available as a downloadable PDF, this easy-to-use digital tool includes a list of assessment criteria, with guiding information to support port efforts across research, development, and deployment phases. It facilitates self-assessment by bringing all relevant port personnel working together in a single system where information can be exchanged, saved and communicated as needed. This tool is for use by the ports with the input of any relevant members of a port community, including the port authority, national maritime authority, ship-operating customers, and governments.
The PRL-MF consists of nine readiness levels—largely following the schematic of the NASA Technical Readiness Level (TRL). The first three levels concern the research phase, the next three levels address the development phase and the last three levels speak to the deployment phase. There are four assessment areas: governance, safety, infrastructure and market.
Each readiness level contains a list of strategies and tasks that, when completed, will help ports assess their current readiness. By examining the tasks required for each readiness level, ports can create a practical roadmap and timeline of the port ambitions.
Upon completion, the port will be able to use visualisation tools that demonstrate where it stands with its PRLs for different fuels. A port can use these visuals and data overview to communicate to internal or external stakeholders about its readiness levels, supporting informed decisions when investing in fuel production, ships, equipment, planning, routes, green corridors, and more.
Guidance is offered in this first digital version in the form of a simple FAQ. The platform provides dedicated space for ports to provide feedback on the tool, and a contact form to raise questions. This input will contribute to the further enhancement of the tool and the development of more comprehensive guidance in the future.
While IAPH manages the PRL-MF platform, ports have full control over the data they input and the option to provide data publicly or to maintain its confidentiality.
To begin using the tool, ports should identify a team member to take the lead as the administrator, and create an account at fuelreadyports.org. Once the account is approved by IAPH, the administrator is responsible for granting access to relevant port personnel. For completing the information needed, the port authority may need to involve its relevant entities/stakeholders. Tasks in every level cover four domains (governance, safety, infrastructure, and market) and it is recommended that the most relevant entity for each task/domain takes the lead for its completion.
In future, the PRL-MF tool will be enriched with new functionalities for the ports and public content (contingent on the permission of individual ports). While the current digital edition of PRL content only assesses readiness to bunker new low- or zero-carbon marine fuels, two additional PRL checklists will be developed to assess the readiness of ports to accommodate vessels running on low- and zero-carbon fuels, and the readiness of ports to accommodate vessels transporting these fuels as cargo.