ZEPA aims to accelerate port decarbonization by making battery-electric container handling equipment affordable and accessible this decade.
Make untethered battery-electric container handling equipment affordable and accessible by 2030
Accelerate port decarbonization
Global representation of terminal operators, OEMs & ports working together towards a shared objective
Critical mass to enable a faster and cheaper transition
4 critical issues that require collective action to accelerate adoption
Aimed to deliver work program in next ~12-18 months
C-level commitment & engagement to drive objectives forward and ensure deliverables are adopted
Functional internal expertise to shape deliverables
Strong involvement of independent 3rd party Secretariat to drive progress and ensure objectivity
Collaboration with existing organizations to leverage existing work and avoid duplication of efforts
Measure and report projected demand for untethered BE-CHE.1
Develop voluntary, open, and accessible design standards3 for untethered BE-CHE.
Collect best practices and create a technical checklist for ports to develop electrification roadmaps – incl. all cargo port segments.
Create toolkits and best practices for financial institutions and governments to introduce incentives for BE-CHE fleets.
Encourage scaled-up production capacity and shorter lead times of BE-CHE by OEMs, by providing OEMs with confidence of terminal operators’ demand.
Reduce product costs through scaled production and accelerated learning effects.
Bring down the TCO of battery-electric equipment and simplify implementation through voluntary design standards that enable interoperability and compatibility of charging solutions and batteries.
Facilitate cost-efficient power infrastructure roll-out required for BE-CHE, shore power, and other cargo segments at ports.
Create better market conditions for zero-emission fleets based on a review and outlook of technology development. Help accelerate the adoption of BE-CHE, including enabling infrastructure.
3rd party publication with aggregated and anonymized projected market demand and estimated commitments by untethered CHE type towards 2030, based on statistical research survey coordinated by independent 3rd party.2
Voluntary, open, and accessible "design standards" for battery packs, charging solutions, their interoperability with equipment, and with management systems for untethered BE-CHE.1
Best practice manuals for power infrastructure roll-out for terminal operators, ports, and grid companies, including a technical checklist and best practices for an implementation and investment strategy and plan, with clarity on ownership.
Toolkits to incentivize BE-CHE adoption & best practices on how and when to operationalize them, e.g., by port authorities in their terminal awarding processes or by international finance institutions in their advisory or financing strategy.
Terminal operators
Terminal operators & OEMs
Port Authorities & Terminal Operators
Port Authorities & Terminal Operators
Note: (1) Untethered equipment includes terminal tractors, straddle carriers & reach stackers. BE = Battery-Electric (2) Subject to strict data protocols to prevent information disclosures, protect confidentiality and ensure antitrust compliance (3) Development of standards are open to all participants and subject to necessary legal protocols; the developed standards are strictly voluntary to adopt.
Measure and report projected demand for untethered BE-CHE1.1
Encourage scaled-up production capacity and shorter lead times of BE-CHE by OEMs, by providing OEMs with confidence of terminal operators’ demand.Reduce product costs through scaled production and accelerated learning effects.
3rd party publication with aggregated and anonymized projected market demand and estimated commitments by untethered CHE type towards 2030, based on statistical research survey coordinated by independent 3rd party.2
Terminal operators
Develop voluntary, open, and accessible design standards3 for untethered BE-CHE.
Bring down the TCO of battery-electric equipment and simplify implementation through voluntary design standards that enable interoperability and compatibility of charging solutions and batteries.
Voluntary, open, and accessible "design standards" for battery packs, charging solutions, their interoperability with equipment, and with management systems for untethered BE-CHE.1
Terminal operators & OEMs
Collect best practices and create a technical checklist for ports to develop electrification roadmaps – incl. all cargo port segments.
Facilitate cost-efficient power infrastructure roll-out required for BE-CHE, shore power, and other cargo segments at ports.
Best practice manuals for power infrastructure roll-out for terminal operators, ports, and grid companies, including a technical checklist and best practices for an implementation and investment strategy and plan, with clarity on ownership.
Port Authorities & Terminal Operators
Create toolkits and best practices for financial institutions and governments to introduce incentives for BE-CHE fleets.
Create better market conditions for zero-emission fleets based on a review and outlook of technology development. Help accelerate the adoption of BE-CHE, including enabling infrastructure.
Toolkits to incentivize BE-CHE adoption & best practices on how and when to operationalize them, e.g., by port authorities in their terminal awarding processes or by international finance institutions in their advisory or financing strategy.
Port Authorities & Terminal Operators
Note: (1) Untethered equipment includes terminal tractors, straddle carriers & reach stackers. BE = Battery-Electric (2) Subject to strict data protocols to prevent information disclosures, protect confidentiality and ensure antitrust compliance (3) Development of standards are open to all participants and subject to necessary legal protocols; the developed standards are strictly voluntary to adopt.
SteerCo: ZEPA is governed by its Steering Committee which provides strategic direction to ZEPA and has the ultimate responsibility for decisions made on behalf of ZEPA.
Sub-committees: ZEPA actions and deliverables will be coordinated and undertaken by dedicated Workstream Sub-Committees. Member Representatives to contribute functional/technical expertise for creation of Workstream deliverables.
Secretariat: The program manager. The Secretariat manages the work program, and ensures pace, focus, and objectivity of activities and deliverables. It is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of ZEPA and coordinating member activities, including research and analysis, deliverable creation project management, and industry engagement. The Secretariat is currently run by Systemiq.
Find answers to commonly asked questions about ZEPA, its mission, activities, and membership.
Yes, membership is open on a rolling basis. Please get in touch with the Secretariat for more information.
It was intended to run for 12-18 months from January 2024. However, members have decided to extent the work program to 2025, meaning that ZEPA will probably continue for longer.
ZEPA aims to retain focus to create impact over a short period. Research indicates that BE-CHE is the more realistic solution in the short to medium term because it is equally or more competitive than HE-CHE in most use cases:
Affordability: TCO of HE-CHE is, on average, analyzed to be 47% higher than BE-CHE, even when considering effects of a lower charging downtime, a cost barrier that is incapable of being narrowed sufficiently before 2030 even with industry action, given the points below.
Accessibility: HE-CHE will not be accessible to terminal operators at scale in time for net zero targets because (i) OEMs do not expect the first prototypes before 2025 and the first commercially viable products before 2030; and (ii) green hydrogen shortages are expected to endure.
Practicality: HE-CHE presents heightened handling challenges and complexities given health and safety considerations.
The analyses suggest that hydrogen CHE might become a solution to decarbonize CHE in the longer term, but only in a limited set of regions and for a specific set of use cases.
Yes. The work program has been approved by our external legal counsel, K&L Gates.
All standards are voluntary and will be made accessible to the wider industry. The development process is open to all industry participants and will be run by an independent 3rd party (The Secretariat) and monitored by an external legal counsel (K&L Gates).
It is in the interest of OEMs as well as Terminal Operators (TOs) that sufficient design elements remain open for OEMs to innovate and differentiate.
The process is run by the Secretariat as an independent 3rd party to incorporate and manage various perspectives, with transparency on considerations leading to choices made.
OEMs & TOs have a shared objective to collaborate on voluntary industry standards to enable a faster and cheaper transition vs awaiting regulatory standards which by then in retrospect may increase product costs.