With the completion of shore power installation on ‘Volendam’, Holland America Line’s (HAL) entire fleet is now shore power capable.
‘Volendam’ completed the installation in Vancouver, British Columbia, and connected to the port’s shoreside electricity for the first full day on 27th September.
Carnival Corp brand, HAL began retrofitting its ships for shore power connectivity in 2006 on its four ‘Vista’ class ships.
HAL’s ‘Pinnacle’ class ships (‘Koningsdam’, ‘Nieuw Statendam’ and ’Rotterdam’) were all built with shore power systems installed, while the ‘Signature’ class ships (‘Eurodam’ and ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’) were launched with a partial installation that has since been completed.
As a part of its sustainability initiatives, HAL uses shore power, also referred to as cold ironing, to reduce emissions and noise on its ships while in port.
Shore power works by plugging the ship into a dockside source, and the power source enables the ship to run all electrical equipment on board without using the ship’s engines, the company explained.
As a result, HAL can connect up in more than 18 ports worldwide. More than 25 other ports are actively constructing shore power facilities or investigating the option.
“At Holland America Line, our legacy of exceptional on board care extends to caring for the planet, and having our entire fleet capable of shore power connection is a tremendous milestone in our sustainability efforts,” said Gus Antorcha, HAL President.
“We have committed to reducing our carbon emission intensity 20% by 2030 from our 2019 baseline, and we’re on our way to reaching that goal through a variety of initiatives that include shore power.
“We look forward to more global ports embracing shore power capability in the future and are ready to work with them to connect,” he said.
Ports that HAL’s ships visit fitted with shore power include – Juneau, Alaska; New York; San Francisco and San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, Canada; Bergen, Ålesund and Kristiansand, Norway; Kiel, Germany; and Shanghai and Xiamen in China.
Next year, the port of Rotterdam is expected to be shore power ready, allowing HAL’s ships to connect up at another of its major destinations.
In addition to shore power, HAL has a comprehensive fleetwide programme involving waste reduction and recycling, compliance with all international environmental guidelines and lower emission propulsion technology.
HAL has also initiated efforts to significantly reduce non-essential single use items, while single use plastics are not permitted on board.
The company no longer uses plastic soda or water bottles, stir sticks, straws and bags, along with single-use food packets, such as ketchup, mustard and salt. Recyclable glass and aluminium containers are the choice for water and soda pop.
In addition, plastic straws have been replaced with biodegradable straws, and plastic hot- and cold – beverage cups have been replaced with plant – or paper – based options.
“We’ve made our packaging changes in a thoughtful manner to ensure that we can both reduce our footprint and also maintain our outstanding guest experience,” Antorcha said.
To reduce food loss and waste, HAL has installed biodigesters that use oxygen, water and micro-organisms to break down and liquefy uneaten food to be sustainably released back to nature. This process helps to reduce methane and CO2 emissions created by the ocean’s natural food decomposition processes.
In addition, food waste dehydrators offer an alternative method of food waste processing that has the potential to reduce waste volume by about 90%. Dehydrators will be installed fleet wide by the end of 2023 to reduce the overall volume of organic waste, HAL said.
