Welcome to Clean Air Quarterly, a newsletter from the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma, and The Northwest Seaport Alliance (the Ports) sharing clean air and climate efforts in our regional gateway. Each issue of the newsletter showcases projects and milestones across our gateway and highlights upcoming opportunities for engaging with many aspects of the Ports' environmental work, including bus tours, commission meetings, webinars, and events!
Moving the maritime industry to more sustainable fuels will require significant effort and partnership if we are to meet our zero-emission goals. That is why the Ports were happy to participate in RMI's recent study outlining some of the concrete steps we need to take to start getting towards that goal as a region and a state.
This roadmap to 2050, entitled ‘Advancing Zero-Emission Fuels in Washinton’s Shipping Sector’ presents a broad variety of findings that span program development, policy and funding. The recommendations include the necessity of interim targets for alternative fuel bunkering at Washington ports, ensuring achievable steps to making this infrastructure available. Another recommendation, to catalyze demand through green corridors, is something the Ports are already exploring through on-going feasibility studies with ports around the world.
Funding is a major consideration, and the report also outlines the scale of initial investment needed for bunkering infrastructure and initial vessel deployment. On the policy side, the report identifies legislative mechanisms to support the transition to zero emission fuels, such as credit generation through the Clean Fuel Standard and permitting improvements. In addition to concentrated investment, the development of alternative fuel infrastructure will require support at all levels of government.
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 In September we welcomed the Alette Maersk, which hit two significant milestones in one vessel call! At 16,592 TEUs the Alette is not only the largest vessel to ever call the South Harbor, but the first dual-fuel green methanol vessel to call the gateway. Green methanol, variants of which can be produced from biomass or renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power, can significantly reduce shippers’ carbon footprints.
Methanol is one of the alternative fuel options many carriers are considering as they begin to make investments in lower-emission vessels, and one of the fuels evaluated in the RMI study above. Vessels like the Alette are a tangible manifestation of the maritime industry’s commitments to clean fuel. Read our full release on this dual record breaking call here.
The Puget Sound Zero Emission Truck Collaborative (PSZETC) has been working for over a year looking at issues facing the drayage truck fleet’s transition to zero emissions. Following this effort, the draft Decarbonizing Drayage: Roadmap to 2050 has been completed. The draft identifies key issues brought forward by Collaborative members, truck drivers, and the community. It focuses its recommendations on three areas: vehicles, infrastructure and equity and opportunity. The report also identifies near-term, mid-term and long-term action items under each focus area. The Collaborative will be reviewing the draft at their next meeting and is on track to finalize the roadmap before the end of 2025, and release it in early 2026.
You can read more about the Collaborative here and their next meeting is December 12.
Transitioning all 5,000 trucks serving our gateway to zero emission alternatives by 2050 or sooner is not an easy task. It is why the PSZETC Roadmap is so important, and why trucks and trucking take up a lot of our time (and often space in this newsletter). To that end the NWSA is exited to launch the NWSA Zero Emission Drayage Truck Incentive Program, which aims to provide funding and assistance to drayage providers in our gateway to deploy zero emission Class 8 trucks. This first round of funding provides between 50-80% of the cost of a ZE truck and necessary charging/fueling infrastructure. The Program uses funds from the Climate Commitment Act and is anticipated to bring 12 zero-emission trucks operational in our gateway. The RFP is out for both this program and the program’s administration, with bids due January 15, 2025, and December 13, 2024 respectively.
 The 2024 cruise season was a success, welcoming 276 vessel calls and 1.75 million revenue passengers. It also marked a significant milestone for Seattle with the completion of shore power installation at the Bell Street Cruise Terminal at Pier 66 in October. This achievement, combined with existing shore power at other terminals, equips all three of Seattle’s cruise berths for shore power, allowing cruise ships to plug into the Seattle City Light grid. Shore power enables cruise ships to plug into clean electricity while docked, significantly reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the Puget Sound region. On average, each connected ship can cut its diesel emissions by 80% and CO2 emissions by 66%.
Seattle is one of the first ports worldwide to offer shore power at all its berths simultaneously. In a further commitment to sustainability, the Port of Seattle became the first in the nation to require shore power usage by homeported cruise vessels, starting in the 2027 cruise season. This proactive approach reinforces Seattle's position as a leader in environmental stewardship within the cruise industry.
The Port of Tacoma welcomed its first piece of zero emission cargo-handling equipment into its fleet last month: an Orange EV electric yard tractor and mobile charging unit. This yard truck will allow the Port to test how this zero-emission technology performs, and builds upon a successful deployment of six electric tractors at the South Intermodal (SIM) Yard. After over a year of operations, the SIM yard tractors, which were acquired through a partnership between the NWSA and Rail Management Services, have proven to be operationally effective and provide numerous benefits in addition to the emissions reduction.
The purchase of the Orange EV tractor and charger at the Port of Tacoma was possible due to a grant from the WA Department of Ecology, and the mobile charging unit will allow the Port to deploy the equipment across the Tideflats. Read the full press release here.
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