---

Shore power supply was inaugurated at the Swedish port of Trelleborg this week.

Stena Line will now be connecting up its two vessels, the M/S Skane and M/S Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, to the electricity grid during calls at the south coast port.

At the inauguration, Stena Line's CEO, Niclas Martensson, spoke about the company's focus on sustainability. On several of the company's ferry routes, vessels call at locations with large populations, so the company has been working to ensure that the ships are able to switch off their engines while docked - to lower at-berth emissions and also reduce fuel consumption.

Shore power connection at Trelleborg means that the machinery on board is completely shut down, bringing emissions down to practically zero. Stena Line's objective is for 75 percent of the ports they use to have an electricity connection by 2030.

At ports with an onshore power supply, Stena Line's vessels hook up to the electricity grid when docked for more than two hours. In Trelleborg, Stena Line's vessels are docked for more than two hours 10 times a week (out of 16), and will therefore connect to shore power during these times.

Installation of electrical connections is a considerable investment, with the port generally paying for the onshore installation and the shipping company paying for the onboard installation. The onshore equipment is protected against overload for a nominal load of 2.2 megawatts (MW), which is equivalent to heating around 80 blocks of flats.

The work and planning that has gone into bringing about the shore power installation has taken several years, and the Port of Trelleborg received a grant from the European Union (EU) - as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - to finance the project.

"Port of Trelleborg has a stated aim to be the most environmental friendly port in the Baltic Sea," the Swedish port said in a statement.

After the inauguration, guests received a guided tour on board the M/S Skane to look into the onshore power connection room, the bridge and the control room.