Smart shore power for river cruise ships

River cruise ships docking at Ruijterkade West and Westerdoksdijk can use new, "smart" shore power cabinets starting today. 

It involves a total of eleven berths in this area where there is sufficient power capacity to connect to shore power. The shore power boxes can be remotely monitored and, if necessary, easily and quickly reset.

Generator ban
Once a river cruise ship is connected to a shore power box, the generator on board the ship can be turned off. Ships are required to connect to shore power cabinets at these locations. The first month we will test if everything works well, if that is the case a generator ban will be imposed as of May 1, 2023, which will be enforced. Port of Amsterdam hopes this will make noise pollution for local residents a thing of the past. Less use of generators in the port will also contribute to air quality (CO2 and particulate matter reduction).

Brief history
In 2020, Port of Amsterdam started to explore the expansion of shore power capacity for river cruise and inland navigation within the A10 ring road. The goal was to have shore power ready in 2022 but due to the corona pandemic, a change in design and long delivery times of cables, this led to delays. Now in 2023, with the start of the new cruise season, all work has been completed and river cruise ships can use these smart shore power cabinets.