The Port of Long Beach, Shenzhen Port Group, Hutchison Ports YANTIAN (YANTIAN), South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) and the North American Representative Office of Shenzhen have signed a memorandum of cooperation to collaborate on decarbonizing ocean trade and inspire other similar efforts to build a green maritime economy around the Pacific Rim.
Representatives for the parties signed the memorandum in Shenzhen, China, on September 22, 2024.
It establishes a framework to support coordination of technical exchanges and programs, initiate shared efforts to deploy clean technologies, promote sustainable infrastructure development within the maritime industry and promote economic development prioritizing sustainability and public health.
Potential collaborations may include maritime technology demonstration projects, programs to attract cleaner oceangoing vessels – because vessels are a key contributor to emissions associated with international trade – and information exchanges conducted through virtual meetings and regional workshops.
The memorandum signed Sunday will also explore the possibility of a Sister Ports Agreement between the Port of Long Beach, the second-busiest seaport in the United States, which handled 8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2023, and YANTIAN, which is one of the world’s largest container terminals run by a single operator.
The Port of Long Beach is known worldwide for its Green Port Policy, a landmark 2005 commitment to environmental sustainability that has led to dramatic reductions in emissions and improvements in water quality and biodiversity of local waters. Together with the neighboring Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach created in 2006 the Clean Air Action Plan — a sweeping, innovative and comprehensive strategy to tackle every source of port-related air pollution.
