Cruise ships plugging into Port

As towering ships return to Seattle's waterfront this month for the start of the Alaska cruise season, local leaders have been touting work to cut air pollution by plugging four of the ships into the city's electrical grid.

In fact, this year Seattle will be the first port in the nation with two berths for cruise ships to shut off their engines and draw power from the city, say Port of Seattle officials.

Even so, some environmental groups aren't satisfied.

Cruise-ship traffic here is steadily mounting, they point out, and it still leaves several diesel-powered ships that each will be belching more than a ton of pollution every time they come to town.

"We're encouraged that the Port is considering increasing the number of shoreside hookups," said Teri Shore of the Bluewater Network, a San Francisco group that fights cruise-ship pollution. "But that is not going to get them off the hook for increased emissions to surrounding communities. They still need to do more."

Princess Cruises started plugging two of its ships into city power last year, and Holland America Line will do the same with two of its three Seattle-based ships this season, at $1 million per ship to install new electrical equipment plus $1.8 million to install hardware on shore. The company is paying most of the cost.

"I think the fact that we're the first cruise port, to our knowledge, in the world that has two berths with shore power available speaks for itself," said Mick Shultz, a Port of Seattle spokesman. "I think this shows the cruise industry and the Port are eager to reduce their emissions."

The expanded programs mean that ships will plug in for roughly 30 percent of the 200 cruise-ship visits this year, Shultz said. That probably underestimates the impact for future years, because Holland America isn't expected to be ready to use the plug-ins until July. Because not all the ships are in port at the same time, the two berths at a terminal south of downtown can accommodate all four ships.

Princess Cruises already has a single berth in Juneau, Alaska, where its cruise ships can plug in to power on shore.

Port officials also promise to use similar plug-in technology at Pier 91, at the north end of Elliott Bay near Magnolia, if the Port decides to dock some of the cruise ships there.

In February, a Seattle Times analysis of federal air-quality measurements found that neighborhoods around the state's major ports have some of the most toxic air in the state.

The cruise ships, which accommodate hundreds of people, typically rely on their diesel-powered engines to produce electricity even while stopped at a dock. On the West Coast, cruise ships typically use fuel with 2.4 percent sulfur, and that sends up as much as 2.5 tons of pollutants in an eight-hour stay in port, the Port of Seattle estimates.

Next year, the Port will start requiring the ships that don't plug into the grid to use fuel with a 1.5-percent sulfur content while in port, in hopes of reducing their toxic emissions.

That wouldn't be much of a change from the fuel used now, because cruise ships in the Northwest typically use fuel that's cleaner than elsewhere on the West Coast, said John Hansen, president of the North West CruiseShip Association. Still, he said, some in the industry worry that it might be difficult to consistently find fuel that meets the lower limits.

But the dissatisfied environmental groups say the Port could require that the cruise ships use even cleaner — and more expensive — fuel.

The Bluewater Network believes the Port should imitate California, which in 2007 will require ships to use fuel that usually contains less than 0.5 percent sulfur while in state waters. That fuel is roughly double the price.

Port officials express frustration with the Bluewater Network and say Seattle doesn't have the same air problems that California does.

"I guess the question is, how good is good enough," Shultz said. "Environmental advocates are always going to want more. But we're making moves in the right direction. And we and our customers are doing what we can."

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com