Callao Becomes First Port in Latin America With Cold Ironing

The Port of Callao, Peru has become the first port in South America with a shore power system for merchant ships. The installation – enabled by investments from DP World – allows vessels to run their electrical bus with renewable power while berthed. 

DP World is putting about $1 billion into infrastructure investments at Peru's ports, including $400 million at Callao, and the shore power project went into the broader scope for the full project. It is sized to handle the largest boxships calling at the port, and will avoid over 6,000 tonnes of CO2 every year – about 30 tonnes per port call. Most of the ships calling at Callao's Pier 3 are already equipped to use shore power, including four out of seven ships assigned to the core Asia-South America services calling Callao weekly. 

"We are not only moving cargo; we are moving Peru toward the future. We’re talking about a technology that may seem simple but is of enormous importance, since only 3% of the world’s ports have this technology, and we’re proud that Peru is part of this group," said Keiko Fujimori, President of Peru in a statement. 

In addition to its carbon benefits, the investment will reduce health-related emissions from auxiliary engine use by about 90 percent. NOx, SOx and PM are a perennial health hazard for fenceline communities in port cities, and the cold-ironing system will improve local air quality at Peru's biggest container port.