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2013 Focus On International Trade Long Beach Business Journal
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Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz at left with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during recent ceremonies marking the completion of the channel deepening project, and at right welcoming Xi Jinping to the port in February 2012, prior to him becoming the president of the People’s Republic of China. (Port of Los Angeles photographs)
tions, because we’re still testing our electric trucks, there could be LNG fueling, and restrooms – which would be kind of handy on Terminal Island!” Additionally, the port is pursuing projects on the Wilmington and San Pedro areas. The Bekins building in Wilmington will be renovated into a port archive, while improvements on the San Pedro waterfront will mean the tall ships and tugboats will be
moved into more visible areas, making the waterfront a nicer place to view. That relationship with the surrounding community is critical – there is no real “buffer zone” between the ports and the people who live and work adjacent to it. The best way to maintain good relationships is to minimize the port’s impact on the lives of the surrounding residents, and one good way of doing that is reducing emissions.
Knatz says the port already has met and exceeded the 2014 emission reduction standards and is working with shippers to encourage them to use cleaner vessels. Last year, the port announced that several shipping lines had registered for incentives available through the Environmental Ship Index program. Shippers whose vessels emit fewer pollutants and who adopt loweremissions-producing practices and tech-
nologies will receive financial rewards when those ships – and those procedures – are used at the port. Already, the port is looking toward the next set of challenges, because that is the only way it can be ready when they arrive. “Setting a goal for five years out, trying to be more resilient, trying to look at ways we can reduce energy consumption – that’s going to be the next big thing,” Knatz says. ■