The Port of Los Angeles has signed a three-year Ecopartnership agreement to share information, technology and best practices with the Port of Shanghai in order to increase its shore power.
“We are honored to share our knowledge and experience with the Port of Shanghai and support this progressive environmental initiative at the world’s largest port,” said Port of Los Angeles executive Gene Seroka in a company statement released 10 July. “We are especially thrilled to do so under the Ecopartnership Program, which is endorsed by the highest levels of both governments.”
The agreement builds on the 1998 Los Angeles-Shanghai Friendship Port Agreement and aims to promote shore power – an energy efficient method allowing container ships to plug in to shore-side electricity at berth – through sharing regulations, standards, policies and incentive programs to reduce vessel emissions.
The agreement coincided with the ten-year anniversary of the first time a container ship plugged in to shore-side electricity and concluded the sixth annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue meeting in Beijing, attended by the US secretary of state John Kerry, and China’s vice premier Wang Yang.
The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, which runs the Port of Shanghai, released a statement saying the new partnership would advance sustainable port development and improve air quality for both sides of the Pacific.
“Los Angeles continues to see the health and economic benefits of green growth, and we are eager to support our number one trading partner as it expands its shore power program,” said Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.
The Los Angeles-Shanghai agreement is part of the US-China Ecopartnership Program, adding to 24 partnerships already established as part of the 2008 Ten-Year Framework for Cooperation on Energy and the Environment to foster collaboration on sustainable developments.
