Cargo Business Newswire

Friday, January 10, 2014

Top Story

Port of Los Angeles plugs in new clean air regulations

The Port of Los Angeles is ready for its terminal operators and shipping lines to meet California's 2014 clean air requirements, providing more berths equipped with shore-side electric power that any other port in the world, according to a port statement.

The port said it invested approximately $180 million over ten years to equip 25 container and cruise berths with the shore-side power infrastructure. Ships that are outfitted to connect to AMP can now hook up at all eight Los Angeles marine container terminals and the cruise center.

"The Port developed and invested heavily in Alternative Maritime Power™ ahead of the regulations to bring the tremendous environmental benefits of shore-side power to our region," said Gary Lee Moore, interim executive director of the L.A. port. "A great deal of credit goes to our industry and regulatory partners for working closely with us over the past decade to put us into the position we are today in terms of our shore-side power deployment capacities."

Effective January 1, 2014, a new California regulation has set shore-side power plug- in requirements for fleets of container, reefer and cruise ships. Under the new rules, at least fifty percent of fleet vessel calls must shut down their auxiliary engines and run their vital onboard systems via shore-side power.

The regulation also requires that each fleet reduce its total at-berth emissions generation by at least fifty percent. The requirements will rise to eighty percent by 2020, the statement said.