Measuring and Benchmarking of Energy Consumption in Container Terminals

Abstract

Today the container terminal industry is under significant pressure to meet economic and environmental criteria. In this context energy consumption and the resulting emissions are of significant relevance, but despite increasing energy consumption and costs, energy efficiency measures and strategies that are based on actual measurements are rarely present in ports and terminals. This talk will present indicators and associated benchmarks, based on primary data from 45 terminals over a period of 5 years.

Deciding factors for the energy consumption in a given terminal will be discussed. Such are for example the share of reefer containers and their dwell time as well as the operational layout of a given terminal. Another important factor is the cargo structure with regard to the share of import/export containers versus transshipment containers.

Biography

Thomas Spengler is a research associate with the City University of Applied Sciences in Bremen with a strong focus on quantitative research in the maritime sector. Before that, he was as consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.