Hot Ironing

Hot ironing is the generation of a ship’s hotel and service power from its own auxiliary engines or boilers while berthed, the opposite of cold ironing. Running diesel gensets at the quay keeps the funnel emitting NOx, SOx, particulate matter, and CO2 inside the port airshed, which is why port states and the EU push the shift to shore power. Under FuelEU Maritime, Regulation (EU) 2023/1805, container and passenger ships above 5,000 GT must connect to onshore power supply at TEN-T core ports from 1 January 2030 when at berth over two hours, with a penalty of 1.50 EUR per unused kilowatt-hour. Hot ironing is the baseline that regulation targets.