ZEPA & Systemiq - Electrifying Port Container Handling
Global (alliance run from Amsterdam, Netherlands, and London, UK) · 2024 · Zero Emission Port Alliance (ZEPA) & Systemiq
The initiative is already contributing to the deployment of electric container-handling fleets in international ports and logistics terminals. Key impacts include: Measurable reductions in operational emissions. Acceleration of zero-emission equipment manufacturing. Increased investment in charging and electrification infrastructure. Reduced dependence on fossil fuels in port operations. Improved air quality and working conditions for port communities and workers. Increased commercial viability of battery-electric heavy equipment. The alliance-based model is helping create the market conditions required for large-scale industrial decarbonization across global maritime logistics systems.
Organization / initiative lead
Zero Emission Port Alliance (ZEPA), an industry alliance founded at COP28 in December 2023 by APM Terminals and DP World. Systemiq is the independent secretariat and runs the alliance day to day.
Members and collaborators in 2026:
Terminal operators: APM Terminals, DP World, PSA International, Patrick Terminals
Equipment and charging suppliers: Kalmar, Kempower, Ampcontrol, Orange EV, Rocsys
Port authorities: Port of Aarhus, Port of Rotterdam
Collaborators: C40 Cities, International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH)Highlight
Competing terminal operators, equipment makers and port authorities work through one alliance to make battery-electric port equipment affordable and accessible, with a public demand forecast, open design standards, free planning tools and published proof points.
Extended description
Container terminals run on diesel machines: terminal tractors, straddle carriers, reach stackers and rubber-tyred gantry cranes. The world fleet is about 100,000 to 120,000 machines in some 940 ports, and it emits an estimated 10 to 15 million tonnes of CO2e a year, plus local air pollution and noise (APM Terminals and DP World, Reaching a tipping point in battery-electric container handling equipment, 2023).
In 2023 a battery-electric machine cost 1.2 to 1.43 times its diesel equivalent over its life, with purchase premiums of about 50% for straddle carriers, 70% for reach stackers and 150% for terminal tractors, even though energy costs fall by more than half (same source). No single operator could close that gap alone. APM Terminals and DP World founded ZEPA at COP28 in December 2023 to close it together, with Systemiq as independent secretariat.
The alliance works in yearly workstreams. In 2024 it published a demand forecast built from members’ confidential purchase plans (four terminal operators handling 110 million TEU a year, about 15% of world container throughput) and voluntary design standards for battery-electric straddle carriers and terminal tractors. In 2025 it added a free Load Profile Scenario Explorer for grid planning, a seven-step transition plan towards electric fleets, and reports on port power infrastructure, battery fire safety, battery circularity and workforce implications. In 2026 it runs the “Electrification is the New Normal” campaign with nine case studies, a battery storage planner, and new work on shore power and battery circularity.
Competition law shapes the model. Every session opens with a competition-law caution, commercially sensitive data stays bilateral with the secretariat, and results are published only as aggregated, anonymised ranges. This is what allows competitors to sit in one room.
The outputs are public goods: equipment makers see one market instead of scattered pilots, grid operators and port authorities get demand figures to plan connections against, and any port can use the standards and tools without joining the alliance.
Demonstrated metrics
Addressable emissions: 10 to 15 million tonnes of CO2e a year are emitted by the world’s container handling equipment fleet, the pool that electrification addresses (APM Terminals and DP World, 2023).
Demand forecast: ZEPA’s four terminal-operator members expect to buy 4,200 to 7,000 battery-electric machines between 2025 and 2035; extrapolated to the whole market this is 27,000 to 47,000 machines, with 1,300 to 2,100 chargers and 800 to 1,200 GWh of electricity a year by 2035 (ZEPA, Projected global demand for BE-CHE 2025-2035, December 2024).
Avoided emissions: operating those purchases avoids 5 to 6 million tonnes of CO2 cumulatively from 2025 to 2035 for the members’ fleets, and 30 to 36 million tonnes if the rest of the market electrifies at the same rate (same report).
Deployments: Jebel Ali (Dubai) runs 146 electric internal terminal vehicles, up from 14 in twelve months; London Gateway (UK) runs 21 electric straddle carriers at an operating cost under half of diesel; Pier 400 (Los Angeles) runs 20 electric terminal tractors, the largest such fleet at the port; Rijeka Gateway (Croatia) opened in 2025 with 95% of equipment value electric on 100% renewable electricity; Tema (Ghana) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) run 29 electric rubber-tyred gantry cranes and 56 electric terminal trucks; APM Terminals Suape (Brazil) opens in 2026 with all 26 machines electric; Maasvlakte II (Rotterdam) has run all-electric horizontal transport since 2015 (ZEPA case studies, portelectrification.com, 2026).
Tool uptake: the Load Profile Scenario Explorer was used more than 525 times in 27 countries in its first month (ZEPA, December 2025).
Workforce: maintenance time on battery-electric machines is about 60% lower than on diesel (2.5 hours against 6 hours per 250 operating hours, member data), and operators need one to two hours to get used to an electric tractor (ZEPA, Workforce implications, December 2025).
Real impact
Nine terminals on four continents now run electric fleets or open electric from day one, and their operating data is public through the ZEPA case studies. The demand forecast gives equipment makers and grid operators a market to plan for. The voluntary design standards are open, free and used by manufacturers. The Load Profile Scenario Explorer and the transition plan are used by ports outside the alliance, in 27 countries within a month of launch. Members report lower maintenance and energy costs, quieter and cleaner yards, and a gradual rather than disruptive shift for the workforce.
Implementation location & date
The alliance was founded at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023 and is run from Amsterdam and London. Documented deployments: Rotterdam (Netherlands, since 2015), London Gateway (United Kingdom), Aarhus (Denmark), Rijeka (Croatia, 2025), Aqaba (Jordan), Jebel Ali (United Arab Emirates), Los Angeles Pier 400 (United States), Tema (Ghana) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), and Suape (Brazil, 2026).
Similar cases elsewhere
Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, Clean Air Action Plan: zero-emission cargo handling equipment goal for 2030.
IAPH World Ports Sustainability Program: port climate and energy projects worldwide (IAPH collaborates with ZEPA).
C40 Cities Green Ports Forum: city and port cooperation on port decarbonisation (C40 collaborates with ZEPA).