The announcement was made in a session on ‘green port technology and operations’ at this month’s TOC Americas virtual conference by Simon Poulin, sales director at Effenco, and Jonathan Paris, director of risk management and customer experience at Termont.

Termont Montréal Inc is owned by Logistec Stevedoring Inc (a subsidiary of Logistec Corporation), Cerescorp Company and Terminal Investment Limited. It operates the Maisonneuve and Viau terminals in Montreal. Effenco is a Montreal-based company that has developed ‘Active Stop-Start Technology’ using a hybrid drive system that provides power to industrial vehicles when they are immobile and the engine is stopped, allowing them to maintain HVAC, electrical systems including connectivity and (optionally) hydraulic functions without the engine running.

Effenco’s hybrid drive features a super capacitor to store energy and to power vehicle equipment, plus an ‘electric hybrid-starter-generator’ that is linked to the engine through a driveshaft and a constant mesh PTO connection. This is used to restart the engine in place of its own battery and starter system.

The battery hybrid is designed to maximise the amount of time the engine is shut down when a vehicle is stationary. When a tractor stops, the Effenco system kicks in, providing power for electrical systems and HVAC, then restarts the engine when the driver takes their foot off the brake. The system can be retrofitted to any terminal tractor.

Initially designed for heavy-duty vocational trucks, Effenco was first fitted to five Tico terminal tractors for a pilot project with Termont that began in 2018. The system takes 30 to 40 man hours to retrofit, and requires minimal changes to the existing machine.

The results show a very high level of reduction in fuel consumption and emissions. Over the year, the five terminal tractors reduced their engine usage by 46%, which equates to 7,020  hours. Fuel usage dropped by 26% (19,890 litres). Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) declined 26% (-60t), NOx fell 39% (-1.045t) and PM by 47% (-0.06t).

The savings in GHGE and PM are very high, which Poulin put in context by explaining that the machines have Tier 3 engines, and emission levels would be much lower with newer units. Effenco has installed its system on machines with Tier 4 engines in the US, which have a much larger exhaust after-treatment system than a Tier 3 engine, and there is still room to accommodate the hybrid drive on the vehicle, said Poulin. In addition, the saving in idle time reduces the amount of soot accumulation in the after-treatment system with a Tier 4 engine.

Speaking for Termont, Paris added that, as a member of the Green Marine Alliance, a voluntary environmental certification programme for the North American marine industry, Termont was looking for solutions that would have a quick impact on its environmental performance.

“Effenco allowed us to make a difference and allows us to keep our actual fleet,” he said.

The savings that Effenco’s Active Stop-Start Technology can generate are directly proportional to the amount of time vehicles spend idling. In April, call patterns at Termont resulted in more vessels being handled at night, when idling time increases. Fuel savings subsequently increased to 54%.

Paris said Termont has confidence in Effenco’s system and is now proceeding to retrofit the remaining 60 tractors in its fleet. Total engine hours saved are expected to reach up to 150,000 per year, saving 400,000 litres of diesel. Not burning this much diesel will reduce Termont’s GHGE by 1,200t per year.

The Port of Montreal is also interested in working with Effenco. Poulin said a project is under way with local drayage operator DSquare Container Transport to retrofit some of its fleet with the hybrid system.

  
This includes working with the port to establish a ‘green lane’ to give these vehicles priority access to the terminal. Ironically, giving priority service to hybrid vehicles that can shut off their engines in a gate queue is likely to reduce the emissions savings from those vehicles, while increasing emissions from diesel machines idling in line.

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This complete item is approximately 700 words in length, and appeared in the October 2020 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 3.  To access this issue download the PDF here