Maersk Line, COSCO Container Lines, Royal Caribbean
International, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises and Holland America
Line have been announced as the 2014 winners of the Port of Seattle’s annual
Green Gateway Partners Awards.
The awards, now in their fourth year, recognize the
environmental achievements of the port’s cruise and containership operators.
This year’s winners were honored March 19.
“These awards show that maritime businesses are doing the
right thing for the environment every day,” Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani
said in a prepared statement. “Their efforts have removed hundreds of tons of
pollutants from Puget Sound air.”
The Green Gateway Partners Awards have a minimum requirement
of 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.
For the second year in a row, Holland America Line earned
the port’s highest level award, platinum, for use of low-sulfur fuels beyond
the required levels, zero discharge of ballast water in Puget Sound, and Marine
Sanitation Devices contributed to its high scores in the Air & Energy and
Wastewater categories.
Earning gold was Princess Cruises for its use of low-sulfur
fuels beyond the required levels, zero discharge of ballast water in Puget
Sound, advanced wastewater treatment systems and marine sanitation devices.
Earning silver for their use of low sulfur fuels were
Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, COSCO Container Lines and Maersk Line.