Seattle awards Green Gateway Partners

The Green Gateway Partners Awards, which are in their fourth year, compliments the port’s role as the ‘green gateway’ for maritime trade between Asia and the American heartland. A 2009 study showed that for cargo originating in much of Asia and bound for USA, routes through Seattle resulted in lower carbon emissions compared to other routes.

“These awards show that maritime businesses are doing the right thing for the environment every day,” said Tay Yoshitani, CEO, Port of Seattle. “Their efforts have removed hundreds of tonnes of pollutants from Puget Sound air.”

They are a minimum requirement participation in the port’s At-Berth Clean Fuels programme or use of shore power.

These and other environmental activities are assigned point values. Depending on the number of points earned, Green Gateway Partners can achieve platinum, gold, silver or bronze ‘recognition levels’.

Holland America Line, for the second year in a row, earned the port’s highest level award, platinum, for use of low sulphur fuels beyond the required levels, zero discharge of ballast water in Puget Sound and marine sanitation devices.

Earning gold this year is Princess Cruises, while Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Maersk Line and COSCO Container Lines, earned silver.