Award for improving air quality by deploying cleaner vessels
Twenty shipping lines were honored by the Port of Long Beach for efforts to improve air quality locally by slowing down or deploying cleaner vessels – or both – at the annual Green Flag and Green Ship awards.
The Port’s Green Flag Program was created in 2005 and participation today is nearly universal. In 2012, almost 96 percent of all ships calling at Long Beach slowed to 12 knots within 20 nautical miles of the Port. In 2009, the Port added the 40 nautical mile option and last year, more than 83 percent of vessels slowed from 40 nautical miles. Slower ships burn less fuel, producing less pollution. Thirteen shipping lines were found to be top performers, earning Green Flags this year.
Meanwhile, 10 shipping lines received the first Green Ship awards, a program that since July 2012 has encouraged vessel operators to assign the cleanest ships to Long Beach. Three of the companies collected both Green Flags and Green Ship awards today.
These programs offer financial incentives. Green Flag participants were awarded $2.5 million in dockage fee discounts in 2012. And since the Green Ship Program began in July 2012, the Port has awarded $135,000 in incentives.
Since the launch of the ship-slowing program in 2005, more than 200 vessel operators have been awarded Green Flags and qualified for reductions on dockage fees. The program has been instrumental in helping the Port decrease diesel pollution from all port-related operations by 75 percent since 2005. The Green Ship program, which accelerates the deployment of newer, greener ships, aims to achieve further air quality improvements.
To view the winners, please click here
Source: Port of Long Beach
