Importing clean air at a port near you

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Looking at port-side communities around the globe, which came first, the community or the port? The answer is that they likely grew together, but the most important question is what can be done to alleviate the air pollution that is growing with the rise of trade and smothering these portside communities? Fortunately much can be done to mitigate the severe health, air pollution and quality of life impactsof industrial shipping. Many major ports worldwide have led the way with technology innovations and investments in cleaner equipment.

The impacts of pollution

Each container full of goods going in and out of a port has a plume of sooty pollution associated with it, from all the trucks, trains, ships and cranes that handled it. In the US alone, more than13 million people – 3.5 million of whom are children – live near major marineports or rail yards, in close proximity to all those polluting containers¹Health impacts related to diesel powered freight, mainly due to very fine particulate matter or soot, include increased rates of respiratory illness and asthma, cardiovascular disease,heart attacks, strokes, emergency room visits, and premature death² Pollution from transportation sources has also been linked to birth defects, low birth weights, and premature births³ .Further,emerging studies have shown a potential connection between exposure to fine PM and diabetes, as well as cognitive decline and other serious impacts to the brain⁴ When we wrote about pollution from the shipping industry in our Harbouring Pollution series of reports in 2004, very little had been done at American ports to address air pollution and health impacts from ocean-going vessels, cargo equipment, locomotives and trucks moving our goods⁵.By 2006 however, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had adopted an expansive Clean Air Action Plan and the California Air Resources Board adopted a state-wide Goods Movement Emissions Reduction Plan⁶ Our new Clean Cargo toolkits detail these plans and other clean up measures that have been put in place at ports and other elements of the freight system⁷

^{What does it take to become a clean port?}

Marine ports need to demonstrate a real commitment to reducing greenhouse gases, soot, smog-forming and toxic pollution, as well as minimising impactson nearby residents. See below for a summary of clean port measures. All of the measures that were commend are already in place at one or more major ports or freight facilities, some are mandated by regulation or soon to be,while others are embraced by green leaders.

Who is setting an example in green shipping?

While the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Rotterdam have all made significant strides in reducing pollution and are known the world over as leaders, some impacts still remain. Other lesser known efforts also deserve attention.The Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach,Oakland, New York/ New Jersey, Houston, Charleston, and Seattle all have clean truck programmes⁸ The Port of Los Angeles has been operating and testing 18 zero emission plug-in and fuel-cell trucks.

Maersk, the largest shipping line,switched from dirty bunker fuel to cleaner low-sulphur marine fuel along selected routes in 2006⁹ The company has also significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions by investing in larger ships that can carry more containers and operate more efficiently at lower speeds. These ships also include improved engine and hull designs and waste-heat recovery to boost environmental performance.

The US Navy utilises shore power atports of call all over the world, allowing it to power down the diesel engines onboard its ships while they are docked¹⁰ Some eighteen commercial ports in Europe and the US currently offer shorebased power for ships and that number is growing¹¹ Ports in Japan and Hong Kong have also expressed interest in shorepower for ships¹²

Use of on-dock rail at ports is growing. For example, the Pusan Newport International Terminal in Busan, South Korea, opened such a facility in late 2010¹³ Battery-powered, automated guidedvehicles (AGV) are being used at the Portsof Singapore and Rotterdam– the Port of Long Beach is also currently adding these.¹⁴These vehicles can shuttle containers around a yard for 12 hours on a battery pack, which can be switched out easily.¹⁵

Other good examples

In 2008, Helsinki, Finland moved its port to a site two kilometres from the nearest residential areas, to protect the local communities from air pollution, noise, and vibration and to address other environmental impacts¹⁶The port implemented other noteworthy practices such as: requiring overnight vessels to dock at berths located farthest from housing; using shore power for all passenger and car ferries; and tunnelling some segments of the road and rail lines underground to protect sensitive natural habitat. The port is now close to major transportation connections, reducing congestion and eliminating unnecessary transport miles¹⁷ The Port of Shanghai has made significant efforts to green its operations, including moving some terminals, retrofitting 131 rubber tyred gantry (RTG) cranes with electric motors, creating an emissions inventory, and investigating and testing shore power use¹⁸

Diane Bailey

Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), San Francisco, California, United States of America

Above article has been initially published at Port Technology International (Edition 59) and is reproduced here with author’s kind permission

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