Portable Generators Ignite Dock Squawk

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A tiny company in Signal Hill is setting off a big battle at the ports.


Wittmar Engineering & Construction has developed what appears to be a relatively cheap way to quickly cut air pollution at the ports. The company makes portable dockside generators that can power ships in port so they can shut off their fume-spewing diesel engines. The system has the support of the Port of Oakland and some shipping lines, which say it would save them tens of millions of dollars.


But the Port of Los Angeles is resisting the system. The port says Wittmar’s generators may be insufficient to power the new generation of larger cruise and cargo ships and that the bulky generators will take up critical dock space. Although the port desperately needs to cut pollution from docked ships, the generators, which burn relatively clean liquefied natural gas, will still create some fumes.


The port favors an even cleaner plan: creating plug-ins so ships can draw electricity from the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power grid.


What’s more, the port already has signed commitments from several shipping companies, requiring them to spend typically $1 million to $2 million per ship to retrofit them so they can plug into the power grid. Wittmar’s technology could render those agreements moot.


The two sides are squaring off this week as state regulators are drafting a rule to determine how ships should reduce their emissions while in dock by hooking up to electric power, a process known as “cold ironing.” How that rule is crafted over the next several months may well determine the fate of Wittmar’s technology.


The intensity of the debate and the lobbying on both sides has surprised Wittmar principals Eric Whitten and Dana Markle. “We never wanted to be in the middle of all this,” Whitten said. “All we wanted to do was to make it easier for ships to hook up to electric power.”



Costly conversions

Until Wittmar’s portable generator was successfully tested in July at the Port of Oakland, the only method available for hooking ships up to electric power was to bring the local utility power grid down to the docks at a cost of $100 million or more at some ports and then have shipping lines spend more money to convert each ship so they could plug in at dockside.


These daunting costs prompted opposition from shipping companies and ports like Oakland that don’t have adequate power infrastructure already in place.


But the emergence of Wittmar’s generator gave those opponents a new tool. Instead of spending up to $2 million per ship, shipping lines would only need to spend about 10 percent of that to prepare to connect to Wittmar’s generators. And ports wouldn’t have to spend any money at all.


“Wittmar’s technology has really changed the debate over cold-ironing. It really has some advantages, especially with small and mid-sized ships,” said George Cunningham, editor of the Cunningham Report, a weekly newsletter for the trade and transportation community.


Pushing most strongly for Wittmar is the Port of Oakland.


“With Wittmar’s technology, we can bring some immediate relief for our community within months instead of years. And we wouldn’t have to spend the more than $150 million that would be required under the traditional grid approach,” said Roberta Reinstein, manager of environmental programs and safety for the Port of Oakland.


If allowed to use Wittmar’s generator, Reinstein said the port not only would sidestep the big costs but could even make money. That’s because it could set up a concession under which shipping companies pay Wittmar for use of its generator and Wittmar would pass a portion of those payments to the port.


The first draft of the rule that air board officials released earlier this year heavily favored the grid approach, setting port emission limits so strict that Wittmar’s liquefied natural gas-fueled generator could not meet them. The rule also set tight deadlines that prompted stiff resistance from shipping firms.


But last week, after intense lobbying, Wittmar and its allies won a partial victory when the board’s staff released a revised draft of the rule that eases up on the air emissions that would allow use of generators.


But the new draft also eases up on the deadlines, extending the first compliance date from 2010 to 2014. While that’s good news for the shipping companies, it could hurt Wittmar if shippers decide to wait until the last moment to comply.


Wittmar executives and Reinstein said they are pushing for the air board to include credits for emission reductions achieved ahead of schedule.


“Our whole strategy has been to tell the ports and the shipping companies they don’t have to wait until 2014 or 2020 they can make their emission reductions now,” Whitten said.



Close to shore

Meanwhile, Port of Los Angeles officials are sticking to their guns. The port has already spent millions of dollars on capacity improvements to its dockside grid and intends to spend about $50 million out of its $2 billion clean air action plan.


“We are firm believers in connecting to stationary shoreside power. It’s an essential element of our clean air action plan,” said Mike Christensen, deputy executive director of port development at the Port of Los Angeles.


The Port of Los Angeles was the first to go down the path of connecting ships to the power grid. Four years ago, as part of a court settlement reached with environmental and community groups over the expansion of China Ocean Shipping Co.’s terminal, then-Mayor James Hahn announced an ambitious plan to begin having ships convert to electric power while in dock. The port reached a lease agreement with China Ocean Shipping under which the shipping line would retrofit all its ships calling at its new terminal; the first plug-in took place in June 2004.


Since then, several shipping lines have agreed to convert some of their ships to allow hookups at both the L.A. and Long Beach ports.


But now, the shipping industry is watching closely as one of its own American President Lines, a subsidiary of Neptune Orient Lines Group has conducted a successful initial test of Wittmar’s device. Assuming that some modest technical problems are resolved with further testing, shippers stand to reap millions in savings on their fleets.

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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