Four West Coast Ports Receive Environmental Awards

By Mark Edward Nero

The environmental sustainability commitments of the Los Angeles, Long Beach, Seattle and Tacoma seaports have earned them the Inbound Logistics Green Supply Chain Partner honors.

The Puget Sound and San Pedro Bay facilities were four of seven US ports honored. Seattle and Tacoma were recognized for their efforts to reduce seaport-related emissions through the comprehensive Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy program, as well as restoring habitat and find solutions to manage stormwater runoff.

LA and Long Beach were honored for their joint Clean Air Action Plan and Clean Trucks Program, which they formulated in 2006 to reduce emissions. The ports have committed to reducing diesel particulate emissions, NOx, and SOx by double digits in the coming years.

Trade magazine Inbound Logistics honored 75 organizations from various trade sectors this year, including ports, truckers, railroads, shipping lines, freight forwarders and air cargo carriers. Other honorees included Matson Navigation, Maersk Line and Union Pacific.

“The G75 list represents 75 visionaries who have demonstrated a long-standing history of driving efficiencies in their customers’ operations and an internal commitment to be as lean and green as possible,” Inbound Logistics editor Felecia Stratton said.

The complete list of award recipients is listed in the magazine's June issue.

Pacific Northwest Ports Update Clean Air Strategy

The ports in Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, British Columbia say they’re setting goals to reduce diesel emissions by 75 percent per ton of cargo by 2015 and 80 percent by 2020 and that combined with projected cargo growth, this could result in overall reductions of 70 percent by 2015 and 75 percent by 2020.

The goals are part of the draft 2013 update of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy released June 11.

The 2013 update was developed based on the results of the 2011 Puget Sound Maritime Air Emissions Inventory released in October 2012. The inventory found maritime-related air pollution has decreased since 2005, with much of the progress due to voluntary investments of the maritime industry and government agencies in cleaner technology, cleaner fuels and more efficient systems of operation.

“The good news is that emissions are down and in this strategy update we are setting more aggressive goals for the near future,” Port of Seattle Director of Environmental and Planning Stephanie Jones Stebbins said. “The draft Strategy Update includes both aggressive reduction goals and sector-specific actions to meet those goals.”

To develop and implement the 2007 strategy and 2013 strategy update, the three ports partnered with other government agencies responsible for protecting air quality in the airshed: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington State Department of Ecology, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Environment Canada and the political body Metro Vancouver.

The airshed centers on the marine area known as the Salish Sea and includes the greater Puget Sound area as well as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait, Boundary Pass, Rosario Strait and other nearby waterways.

The ports are accepting public comments on the draft strategy through July 26 via open houses, in-person, mail and online.

Comments can be submitted to the Port of Tacoma online at www.portoftacoma.com/nwpcas-2013update or by mail at Port of Tacoma, P.O. Box 1837, Tacoma, WA 98401. More information is available at www.portoftacoma.com/nwpcas.

Comments can also be submitted to the Port of Seattle by email at cleanair@portseattle.org or in writing at PO Box 1209, Seattle WA 98111.

The draft plan can be viewed at http://www.portseattle.org/Environmental/Air/Seaport-Air-Quality/Documents/NWCleanAirUpdate_2013.pdf.