Seattle and Tacoma Ports: “Green Gateway” for Trade

The study, commissioned by the Port of Seattle, was conducted by Herbert Engineering, a ship design, engineering and transportation consulting firm based in California. They analyzed carbon footprints of trade routes between Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and the US distribution hubs of Chicago, Columbus and Memphis as well as routes that use US East and Gulf Coast ports via the Panama and Suez canals. The results indicate that the lowest emission route to ship cargo from Asia to the US Midwest is through the Puget Sound – the “Green Gateway” for trade. 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 on routes through the Panama Canal, Norfolk, New York and California.