Ship service electrical power consumption at the shore side has rapidly grown for commercial ships. The environmental impact of the pollution created while at berth has many ports restricting the operation of on-board generators. Shutting off these on-board generators and supplying ship’s power from the shore power system can reduce the air pollution emissions. With the development of medium voltage power plugs and receptacle assemblies, cold ironing projects for larger ships are more prevalent. Various organizations are working on developing standards for implementing shore power. The paper will highlight the efforts of IEEE, ISO and IEC to develop standards for medium voltage on-shore power supply connections for.