APL Ltd., Maersk Line, Matson Navigation, COSCO Container
Lines, Royal Caribbean Intl., Celebrity Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line,
Princess Cruises and Holland America Line have been announced as winners of the
Port of Seattle’s annual Green Gateway Partners Awards.
The awards, now in their third year, recognize the
environmental achievements of the port’s cruise and containership operators.
This year’s winners were honored Feb. 28.
“It’s great to have customers who not only understand that
we have to work toward continuous improvement, but demonstrate a clear
commitment to do so,” Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani said in a statement.
The Green Gateway Partners Awards set as a minimum
requirement participation in the port’s At-Berth Clean Fuels program or use of
shore power. These and other environmental activities are assigned point values
and depending on the number of points earned, Green Gateway Partners can
achieve one of three recognition levels – gold, silver or bronze.
The awards and scoring system are conducted by analysts from
Cascadia Consulting Group and Glosten Associates.
This year, for the first time in the awards’ history, the
port awarded a platinum-level award for the commitment to environmental
sustainability, with Holland America receiving the recognition.
The Green Gateway Partners Awards are so named due to the
Port of Seattle’s declared role as “the Green Gateway” for maritime trade
between Asia and the American Midwest and East Coast. A 2009 study showed that
for cargo originating in much of Asia and bound for a wide range of
destinations across the United States, routes through Seattle resulted in lower
carbon emissions than other routes.
