In the works since January 2022, a plan for what will be the first green shipping corridor across the Pacific Ocean was announced Friday, Sept. 22, by the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai.
The goal of what is a voluntary partnership is to find ways to cut greenhouse gas pollution from cargo ships that do not fall under the environmental programs being pursued by the ports.
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, in a written statement, called it “a model for the global cooperation needed to accelerate change throughout the maritime industry.”
Both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are pressing forward under the 2006 Clean Air Action Plan to meet deadlines for terminal equipment and trucks to go to zero-emissions by 2030 and 2035, respectively.
But the ports have no direct control over the cargo ships.
“Reducing greenhouse gases from ships requires action on a global scale,” said Port of Los Angeles spokesman Phillip Sanfield.
The ports announced in 2022, he said, that they were “committed to figuring this out.”
The framework announced on Friday includes participation by four ports in both China and Japan. Goods from those ports travel by what is the main shipping corridor from Asia to the U.S.
The effort to decarbonize international ships is particularly complicated that will require global cooperation, port officials said.
The shipping industry overall, according to port information, is responsible for 3% of the world’s greenhouse emissions.
“For perspective,” Seroka said, “most of the emissions associated with moving cargo by ship occur in the mid-ocean part of the journey between ports” rather than at the ports where environmental restrictions can be regulated.
Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, hailed the agreement as an important step.
“This initiative will drive emissions reductions across the world’s largest ocean and lead to greener practices from supply chain participants along…
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