Freight News, Sea

C40 Cities Explores Pacific Green Corridor

[ May 9, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

One year since its creation, the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor, or GDSC, shared among three major global container ports, is moving in the right direction for green jobs, health benefits and economic benefits, a study has determined.
The U.S. ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, or MPA, created a memorandum of understanding in April 2023 aimed at emphasizing the future demand for zero-and near-zero emission fuels and decarbonizing shipping routes between the U.S. and China.
The ports unveiled the corridor’s partnership strategy at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2023, outlining the corridor’s goals, partnership structure and governance mechanism.
Commissioned by the ports and C40 Cities and conducted by the American Bureau of Shipping, the study analyzed maritime trade flows between Singapore, Los Angeles and Long Beach, and provided a baseline of activities and energy demand requirements for vessels operating on the corridor through to 2050.
The study attempted to estimate the quantity of near-zero and zero-emission fuels required for this traffic by modeling the adoption of zero and near-zero carbon alternative fuels by vessels operating on the corridor through to 2050, considering various parameters such as fuel production costs and fuel availability, and in view of the targets in the 2023 International Maritime Organization’s Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships. The study can be found at c40.me/3xF60Yw.

Successful Unveiling

MPA, Los Angeles and Long Beach are among 20 leading port and port city members of C40’s Green Ports Forum, a global platform that champions ambitious green shipping corridors, and acknowledges their central role in the ports and shipping sectors’ green transition. C40, is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities.
MPA, established in 1996 to advance and safeguard Singapore’s strategic maritime interests through port and maritime development, and the roles of port authority, maritime and port regulator and planner, national and international maritime representative and a champion of digitalization and decarbonization efforts. In 2023, Singapore’s annual vessel arrival tonnage crossed 3 billion gross tons and remains the world’s busiest transshipment hub, with a total container throughput of 39 million 20-foot equivalent units.
“Shipping is a new pillar in the multifaceted partnership with the U.S. said Teo Eng Dih, CEO of MPA. “The GDSC with the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach highlights the importance of working with industry, researchers, government and society through innovation and capacity building. With traffic along the GDSC accounting for 7 percent of the world’s container trade, the initiatives by GDSC partners and stakeholders will help generate growth and new opportunities for maritime professionals.”
The Port of Los Angeles has ranked as the No. 1 U.S. container port for 24 consecutive years, generating US$292 billion in trade and 8.6 million container units in 2023. The port remains focused on community investment, commitment to sustainability and environmental leadership, workforce development, and infrastructure improvement across the Southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.
“Achieving the reductions of greenhouse gas emissions required will take coordination and commitment from public and private stakeholders across the maritime and goods movement industries. We’re proud to be collaborating with industry partners to make this corridor a reality,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.
The Port of Long Beach, as a premier transpacific gateway, handles US$200 billion in trade and 8 million 20-foot equivalent units o containers. In the next 10 years, the port plans US$2.2 billion in capital improvements aimed at enhancing capacity, competitiveness and sustainability.
“One of the most important parts of this partnership is it allows us to better understand and target a source of emissions that is hard for us to control as a local seaport authority – shipborne emissions,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “This work, vital to our net zero-emission quest, will result in economic and health benefits all along the trans-Pacific trade corridor.”
Based on the study’s estimates, the corridor at full implementation could create more than 700 new job opportunities in zero- and near-zero emission fuel production and improve local air quality. These estimates support findings by C40 and other organizations that activities undertaken through green shipping corridors can accelerate wider decarbonization across the maritime industry and unlock health benefits for local communities and green economy opportunities for participating countries.

Key Findings

The corridor partners underscore their dedication to a data-driven decision-making approach through the study, utilizing its insights to guide their actions in pursuing the partnership’s decarbonization objectives and aligning with the related goals of the shipping sector.
Key findings of the study include:

• Vessels operating on the corridor represent 7 percent of the world’s container trade, which is about 1 percent of Singapore’s, 14.5 percent of Port of Long Beach’s, and 20 percent of Port of Los Angeles’ traffic.
• The projected annual energy demand of vessels on the corridor is estimated to be approximately 60,000 terajoules, equivalent to approximately two months of Singapore’s national electricity generation.
• Shipping demand on the corridor is estimated to be about 850,000 tons of methanol and 160,000 tons of ammonia annually by 2030, displacing the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from almost 320,000 cars annually.
• The transition to zero- and near-zero emission fuels could potentially create approximately 700 jobs in the production and supply chain of such fuels by 2030.
  The partnership convened the first in-person stakeholder meeting of the corridor together with industry value-chain representatives, as a prelude to onboarding stakeholders to the corridor. The meeting was held during Singapore Maritime Week 2024 on April 18.
  The meeting and subsequent working groups will focus on developing green and digital solutions to address the following focus areas within the corridor:
  1) Enable the supply and adoption of zero and near-zero emissions fuels (e.g. green ammonia, green methanol) at scale, including safety, emergency response, mitigation and standards-setting.
  2) Develop and scale-up the adoption of energy efficiency solutions, including through digital tools (e.g. route optimization, remote monitoring) and technologies that reduce fuel consumption (e.g. wind-assisted propulsion).
  3) Develop and encourage the adoption of digital technologies to support the monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions along the corridor.
  “Accelerating efforts to decarbonize the shipping sector is urgent if we are to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” said C40 Executive Director Mark Watts. “C40 is proud to support this first-mover initiative which has the potential not only to support the development and uptake of low- and zero-carbon fuels and vessels, but also create good green jobs and health benefits for local communities by doing so.”

Tags: Green and Digital Shipping Corridor