Americas News
Port of Long Beach Hails Impact of Lowering Vessel Speeds
The Port of Long Beach (PoLB) says its Green Flag Program, which offers financial rewards for reducing vessel speed near the harbour to decrease emissions, enabled shipping lines calling at the port to cut thousands of tonnes of air pollution during 2015.
"Our environmental initiatives have led to dramatic improvements in air quality," said Jon Slangerup, CEO of Port of Long Beach.
"We have surpassed our clean air goals for 2014 and nearly all of them for 2023. We continue to aspire to be the world's first zero emissions port."
The programme, which provides dockage rate breaks to shipping lines that slow to 12 knots or less within 20 or 40 nautical miles of the port, is said to have seen 154 vessel operators in 2015 meet or exceed the programme's required 90 percent participation rate.
The Green Flag Program is said to be part of a larger Green Port Policy that includes other programmes intended to reduce vessel emissions through various means, such as the Green Ship Program, which is aimed at encouraging newer and cleaner vessels to call Long Beach.
The port is also said to encourage vessel operators to utilise shore power while at berth instead of running diesel fueled engines.
"The Green Flag Program has been highly successful in reducing air pollution from ships, the leading port-related source of emissions," stated PoLB, noting that since 2005, the port's emission reduction efforts has reduced diesel particulates by 85 percent, smog-forming sulfur oxides by 97 percent, nitrogen oxides by 50 percent, and greenhouse gases by 21 percent.
In October, Ship & Bunker reported that the California Air Resource Board (CARB) approved the use of an Advanced Environmental Group, LLC (AEG) exhaust gas scrubber alternative to shore power, known as the Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System (AMECS).
