For the second straight year, the Port of Seattle has presented Green Gateway Partners Awards to recognize the environmental achievements of its cruise and containership tenants.
The awards, which were announced Feb. 17, are based on a scoring system. Depending on the number of points earned, port tenants can achieve one of three recognition levels – gold, silver or bronze.
Eligibility for the awards begins with participation in the port’s At-Berth Clean Fuels program, or use of shore power as a minimum requirement. These and other environmental activities then assigned point values. The awards and scoring system are maintained by a third party.
This year’s gold award winners were APL Ltd., Royal Caribbean International, Hapag-Lloyd, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line and Maersk Line. All received high marks in such categories as innovative vessel design, environment protection programs and environmental pilot/test programs.
Receiving silver awards were Matson Navigation and Holland America Line. COSCO Container Lines was the sole bronze award recipient.
“These maritime operators demonstrate by their actions every day that you can be good environmental stewards while contributing to our economy,” Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani said.
The name of the awards – Green Gateway Partners – is a nod to the port’s branding of itself as the Green Gateway for maritime trade between Asia and the central US.
A 2009 study showed that for cargo originating in much of Asia and bound for a range of destinations across the United States, routes through Seattle resulted in lower carbon emissions than other routes.
