Stakeholders of the maritime industry, including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai, some of the largest carriers in the world, and key cargo owners unveiled a Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline to accelerate emissions reductions on one of the world's busiest container shipping routes across the Pacific Ocean.
In a statement, the partners noted that this signals that the first-ever green shipping corridor across the Pacific is taking shape.
"Today, a voluntary partnership of leading maritime goods movement stakeholders, including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai, some of the largest carriers in the world, and key leading cargo owners unveiled a Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline to accelerate emissions reductions on one of the world’s busiest container shipping routes across the Pacific Ocean," the statement said.
It added that the plan is the first of its kind and was developed with support from C40 Cities as part of its effort to reduce carbon emissions from the largest cities in the world.
"The plan is an important step toward decarbonizing the global supply chains that power our economies and transitioning toward zero lifecycle carbon emission ships."
In the statement, the ports — some of the world's busiest — noted that the plan would showcase cutting-edge goods movement technologies, decarbonization applications and best management practices to enhance efficiency and catalyze technological, economic and policy efforts to progressively decarbonize shipping and port-related activities.
Zero lifecycle carbon emissions container
As part of the historic plan, the carrier partners will begin deploying reduced or zero lifecycle carbon capable ships on the corridor by 2025 and work together to demonstrate by 2030 the feasibility of deploying the world's first zero lifecycle carbon emission container ship(s).
Carrier partners include CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines Co., Ltd., Maersk, and ONE.
The ports noted that core partners include the Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd., the China Classification Society, and the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre of Asia.
"Participants of the Green Shipping Corridor Partnership will take steps to reduce carbon emissions and harmful pollutant emissions impacting air quality through methods such as expanding the use of shore power and supporting the development of clean marine fueling infrastructure," the statement said.
It added that cargo owner partners have set goals to contract with carriers to use zero lifecycle carbon emission shipping services, and in an effort to measure progress toward decarbonization, all partners will develop metrics to track decarbonization progress.
"This trans-Pacific green corridor will be a model for the global cooperation needed to accelerate change throughout the maritime industry," said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of LA, adding that reducing emissions in this corridor will yield substantial reductions.
"For perspective, most of the emissions associated with moving cargo by ship occur in the mid-ocean part of the journey between ports. This corridor will help reduce mid-ocean emissions while continuing the work we have done to cut emissions within our ports," Seroka added.
Mario Cordero, chief executive officer of the Port of Long Beach, said this initiative will drive emissions reductions across the world's largest ocean and lead to greener practices from supply chain participants along these vital trade routes.
"The new and innovative vessel technologies, increased availability of sustainable fuels and better practices created through this green corridor will also impact society's transition to a cleaner future far beyond the areas served by our ports," he said.
Meanwhile, Mark Watts, executive director of C40, said, "C40 is proud to support this first-of-its-kind green shipping corridor aimed at demonstrating that zero-carbon shipping at scale is feasible by 2030 and that less polluting ships and ports will also mean cleaner air, less noise and more jobs for local communities."
