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AK-WA Connection 2009: Green works for Alaska-Washington trade Puget Sound ports, customers and others pursue environment initiatives,
tout advantages of reducing emission of greenhouse gases By Rose Ragsdale Alaska-Washington Connection
Businesses in the Alaska-Washington trade are focusing on an increasing number of green initiatives, working to benefit the environment and the bottom line.
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, for example, recently reported results of a groundbreaking study that quantifies the carbon footprint of containers coming through the Puget Sound.
The study comes as environmental groups assert that shipping accounts for at least 90 percent of all global trade, making the industry a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. They say the aviation industry transports around 40 million tons of freight a year, while the shipping industry carries 6 billion tons of it.
The port study, commissioned by the Port of Seattle, was conducted by Herbert Engineering, a ship design, engineering and transportation consulting firm based in California. The firm analyzed carbon footprints of trade routes between Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and the U.S. distribution hubs of Chicago, Columbus and Memphis as well as routes that use U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports via the Panama and Suez canals.
For ports of origin as far south as Singapore, carbon emissions for cargo moving by ship to the Pacific Northwest and by rail to a broad swath of the United States are lower than for comparable shipments on routes through the Panama Canal, Norfolk, New York and California.
Prior to its release, the Port of Seattle had the Herbert Engineering study independently reviewed, and also asked trade experts, customers and shipping partners to review the results. Outdoor gear and apparel retailer Recreational Equipment, Inc. lauded the Port of Seattle for its leadership in commissioning the study.
“REI applauds the efforts of the Port of Seattle in undertaking this kind of study to better inform shippers about the carbon implications of their transportation options,” according to Rick Bingle, director of Global Supply Chain for the Seattle-based company.
Greg Shelton, managing director of the Global Trade, Transport, and Logistics Studies program at the University of Washington, told the port that within the study’s assumptions, the findings are good news for the Puget Sound.
“I feel that the study shows that the West Coast and especially the Puget Sound have a lower carbon footprint for transporting goods between Asia and consumers in the heart of the U.S.,” Shelton said.
The carbon study follows the Puget Sound Maritime Air Emissions Inventory, a groundbreaking study measuring how port activities in the region affect regional air quality, and the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy.
“The carbon study results are good news, and a great boost to our efforts to measure and reduce our environmental impact,” said Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani in announcing the study. “Our ongoing sustainability initiatives have created a ‘Green Gateway’ that is good for our environment and our customers.”
Port of Tacoma Executive Director Tim Farrell also commended the port’s customers and tenants in the statement for helping to deliver a cleaner, healthier environment, while contributing valuable jobs and goods to the economy.
“They help us demonstrate that businesses can do well by doing good,” Farrell said.
Cleaning up the air In the clean air strategy, the Puget Sound ports joined with the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia to develop common standards for reducing maritime and port-related diesel and greenhouse gas emissions in the Pacific Northwest that affect air quality and climate change, said Port of Tacoma spokesman Mike Wasem.
The goal of the clean air strategy is to reduce air emissions in the Pacific Northwest from current and future maritime port operations through specific strategies and actions within each category of port operation and to measure the reductions over time. This ground-breaking effort has three components:
Reduce maritime and port-related air quality impacts on human health, the environment, and the economy;
Reduce contribution to climate change through co-benefits associated with reducing air quality impacts; and
Help the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound air shed continue to meet air quality standards and objectives.
Actions taken by the ports include using low-emissions fuel, purchasing hybrid vehicles and vessels for their own use and increasing recycling efforts to divert solid waste from landfills.
In July, the ports unveiled their first annual report on the strategy and progress made during the past year.
“First we worked with our partners to measure maritime air emissions. Then we created a plan that collaborates with our customers, stakeholders, and neighbors,” Yoshitani said.
Under an agreement between the port and the cruise industry, for example, all cruise ships that homeport in Seattle now use shore power or low-sulfur fuel while docked, eliminating the need to run ship engines to generate onboard electricity. That agreement is similar to one between the cruise lines, the Port of Seattle, and the Washington State Department of Ecology that governs wastewater discharges.
“Seattle’s cruise industry demonstrates that economic growth and environmental protection are compatible, achievable goals,” Yoshitani said. “We are proud today to be opening the only cruise terminal in the world that can provide shore power to two ships at once.”
At the Port of Tacoma, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded nearly $1.5 million in July to retrofit two ocean-going vessels, add a shore-side connection system and alternative maritime power at the Totem Ocean Trailer Express Terminal and reduce diesel particulate matter and greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 90 percent for at-berth vessels by eliminating idling at the terminal. The clean diesel project also will create or sustain 50 manufacturing and local installation jobs while protecting Tacoma’s air quality, the EPA said.
By 2010, the ports aim to reduce equivalent particulate matter in emissions by using distillate fuels with a maximum sulfur content five-tenths of 1 percent for all engine operations in port. They are asking all operators to use fuels with maximum sulfur content of 1.5 percent or engage in equivalent particulate matter reduction measures for all main or diesel electric engine operations while in port.
Making the smart choice Wasem said a growing number of the port’s customers, primarily transportation companies, are voluntarily joining in the effort by formally adopting environment-friendly strategies.
Horizon Lines, for example, is already using low emissions fuel at port, he said.
Green initiatives at Foss Maritime Co. have earned this longtime member of the Alaska-Washington trade both national and international recognition. In May, the Port of Seattle and Propeller Club presented Foss with the “Marine Environmental Business of the Year” award at the 2009 Seattle Maritime Festival luncheon.
“To win the Marine Environmental Business of the Year award, here in Puget Sound where our company was established more than a century ago, is a great honor for all of us at Foss,” said Gary Faber, Foss’ president and chief operating officer.
“At Foss, our core values are supported by our commitment to continual improvement – in health and safety, compliance, quality and also environmental stewardship. Our customers and the industry have come to expect this commitment from us.”
The awards committee cited Foss’ commitment to reducing its carbon and emissions footprints and adhering to the principles of sustainability and safety in its operations.
Among the company’s initiatives are:
Building the world’s first low emissions hybrid tugboat;
Switching its entire fleet to ultralow-sulfur diesel;
Cold ironing at all of its home docks and shipyards;
Becoming the first company accepted into the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transportation Partnership for its marine transportation services;
Converting six of its vessels to cleaner engines;
Investing in new barges with vapor recovery systems;
Conducting an energy audit on all its vessels;
Developing an energy management plan to reduce fuel consumption; and
Participating in the Northwest Clean Air Strategy and voluntarily incorporating all elements of that plan into its corporate environmental strategy.
One smart trucker Lynden Transport also joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership in September 2008, becoming the first Alaska-based trucking company to qualify for the program.
The SmartWay Transport Partnership brings together the EPA and transportation companies that voluntarily improve fuel efficiency and reduce air pollution from freight transport.
Lynden Transport received the EPA’s highest score of 1.25, or “Outstanding,” in the Shipper Index Factor, which assesses fuel and fleet efficiency and environmental performance.
In 2004, the EPA launched SmartWaySM — an innovative brand that represents environmentally cleaner, more fuel-efficient transportation options.
SmartWay partners with high scores are already utilizing most of the commercially available fuel-saving strategies and evaluating the latest emerging technologies.
“We have been working ‘green’ for quite some time, and it’s gratifying to see our long-term efforts recognized by the EPA,” said Steve Schultz, Lynden Transport’s director of health, safety and environmental.
Lynden also launched its own corporate “Green Initiative” to improve the environmental performance of its fleet and operations.
“We know our customers are concerned with these issues, and we are committed to finding new and cleaner ways to work,” Schultz said.
Many companies use SmartWay partners exclusively for transportation and other needs.
Lynden Transport is now listed on EPA’s SmartWay Web site, flagged as a top scorer for exceptional environmental performance.
Lynden Transport is one of Lynden Inc.’s diverse transportation businesses that include trucking, ocean barges, rail barges, intermodal bulk chemical hauls, scheduled and chartered air freighters, domestic and international air forwarding, international ocean forwarding, customs brokerage, trade show shipping, remote site construction, sanitary bulk commodities hauling, and multimodal logistics.
Going green in the air Alaska Airlines is another transportation company working to make the Alaska-Washington trade greener. Together with its sister carrier, Horizon Lines, Alaska Airlines has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent during the past five years.
Part of the improvement resulted from replacing planes in its fleet with the next generation of more fuel-efficient Boeing 737s. The airline also equipped two-thirds of its fleet with “winglets,” an innovation that, alone, accounts for a 3 percent reduction in emissions.
In addition, Alaska Air uses “required navigational performance” technology, which it pioneered in the 1990s on all of its aircraft, and since has been adopted by other carriers across the nation. RNP uses GPS satellite technology that allows Alaska pilots to fly air routes more directly and precisely, which saves both fuel and lives, said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan.
On the ground, the airline is also using greener equipment, configuring engines to consume electricity instead of fossil fuels, she added.
Greener fuel for Alaska Alaska’s overall transportation industry is getting greener in response to new federal fuel requirements. The EPA modified its diesel fuel rules to apply an effective date of June 1, 2010, for the 15-parts-per-million-sulfur requirements for highway, non-road, locomotive and marine diesel fuel produced or imported for, distributed to, or used in the rural areas of Alaska.
Preparing for the transition, Colville Inc. built a new ultralow-sulfur diesel tank farm in Deadhorse during the latter half of 2008. The farm has four 435,000-gallon tanks set in concrete secondary containment with “cone-up” bottom design to support the tanks.
The tanks were filled with USLD fuel in December.
The tank farm includes a tertiary containment design, which is the “best of the best environmentally,” according to Colville Vice President Becky Gay.
“This is Colville stepping up to the plate on the ULSD issue. … This is a big project for Colville and the North Slope,” Gay noted on the firm’s Web site.
The move to use ULSD is aimed at lowering diesel engines’ harmful exhaust emissions and improving air quality. By December 2010, all highway-use diesel fuel offered for sale in the United States must be ULSD fuel. Two grades of the ULSD fuel, arctic and non-arctic, can be purchased in Alaska. The fuel is not made year-round, so Colville must purchase and store it for use on the North Slope.
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