Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support ports wishing to offer onshore power supply connections to cruise line customers.

On 25 March, the Government published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy and a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. This call for evidence focused on potential options to reduce emissions from vessels at berth and how ports are managing their future energy demand, including the provision of shore power to customers such as cruise operators. We are considering the responses to the call for evidence and will set out next steps in due course.

In September, we announced an additional £448m of Research and Development investment for the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme. Through previous rounds of UK SHORE funding, we have already funded shore power projects, including nearly £20m for a shore power installation at Portsmouth International Port, which will soon allow visiting cruise ships to connect. Future rounds of funding will continue to support clean maritime solutions.

Given the importance of securing grid connections to providing shore power, the Government is working closely with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator on fundamental reforms to the connections process, which will reduce the connections queue and prioritise progressing viable projects.