Port of Long Beach recognizes clean air achievements
The Port of Long Beach said it will recognize its seven container terminals today for cargo-handling equipment improvements that have resulted in a 50 percent cut in certain harmful air pollutants.
“Cargo-handling equipment is one of our biggest clean-air successes so far at the port,” said Robert Kanter, the port’s director of planning and environmental affairs, in a statement. “And it could not have happened without the commitment and cooperation of our terminal operators.”
The port and its tenants have reduced emissions from cargo-handling equipment by nearly 600 tons a year of nitrogen oxides compared to 2002 levels, which represents an overall reduction of 24 percent. The improvements have also resulted in a 50 percent reduction in diesel particulate matter, a harmful pollutant linked to cancer and respiratory ailments. Diesel particulate matter from cargo equipment emissions has been reduced by a total of more than 70 tons a year from 2002 levels, the port said.
The port, EPA and the California Air Resources Board have spent more than $2 million to retrofit more than 600 pieces of cargo-handling equipment with cleaner-burning diesel oxidation catalysts. In addition, the port’s container terminals have been aggressively upgrading and modernizing their cargo-equipment fleets to run on clean diesel fuel, Kanter said.
The port container terminals are: SSAT/Long Beach Terminal; SSA Marine/Matson; California United Terminals; Long Beach Container Terminal; International Transportation Service Inc.; Pacific Container Terminal; and Total Terminals International.