The development of the first green shipping corridor across Pacific is gaining momentum. A collaborative effort involving prominent stakeholders in the maritime goods movement industry, including the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Shanghai, major global carriers, and influential cargo owners, has unveiled an Implementation Plan Outline for the Green Shipping Corridor. This corridor initiative aims to expedite emissions reduction efforts along one of the world’s busiest container shipping routes spanning the Pacific Ocean. Remarkably, it represents the first plan of its kind and has been crafted in partnership with C40 Cities, an organisation dedicated to reducing carbon emissions in the world’s largest cities.
This plan represents a significant stride towards the decarbonisation of global supply chains that drive our economies, as well as the transition to vessels with zero lifecycle carbon emissions. It will serve as a platform to showcase cutting-edge technologies for goods movement, decarbonisation solutions, and best practises to enhance efficiency. Furthermore, it will stimulate technological, economic, and policy initiatives aimed at progressively reducing carbon emissions from shipping and port-related activities.
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. 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 use of shore power and supporting the development of clean marine fuelling infrastructure. 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 decarbonisation, all partners will develop metrics to track decarbonisation progress.
Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, said: “This trans-Pacific green corridor will be a model for the global cooperation needed to accelerate change throughout the maritime industry. 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.”
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 practises from supply chain participants along these vital trade routes. The new and innovative vessel technologies, increased availability of sustainable fuels and better practises created through this green corridor will also impact society’s transition to a cleaner future far beyond the areas served by our ports.”
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.”
