Taiwan’s Asia Cement Corp has announced the completion of a full shore power project for its cement vessels, which will see its cement carriers use the onshore Taipower energy supply instead of using on-board generators while berthing at port. The project is expected to save over 1474t of fuel per year and effectively cut 5329t of CO2 emissions.

Asia Cement currently has four cement carriers that transport cement from its Hualien plant to various ports of Taiwan and 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 emmisions. To reduce the impact on the sea, the ecology and the environment, the company has completed the two-phase shore power project in the ports of Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung and Hualien and on the four cement carriers, with a total investment of TWD37.39m (US$1.337m).

The shore power engineering system is also expected to reduce the unloading time by around 50 per cent, according to a press release.