News Release
FOR RELEASE - October 16, 2013
Contact: Meredith Martino, mmartino@aapa-ports.org
703-684-5700
American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org
Green Marine and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding underscoring a new collaboration to advance the environmental sustainability of port and terminal operators.
The MOU, signed during AAPA’s 102nd Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla., will serve as a framework for increased cooperation between the two parties to advance environmental protection at seaports in the Western Hemisphere. AAPA will encourage its members’ participation in the Green Marine environmental program for ports that find it beneficial to their operations and sustainability initiatives.
"AAPA wants to take a leadership role in regard to port environmental certification," says AAPA President and CEO Kurt J. Nagle. "We want to ensure the association gives the best tools to its members to help them benchmark and improve their environmental performance and we’ve determined that the Green Marine program is valid, applicable and scalable for port authority and terminal operations."
Both Green Marine and AAPA are seeking to establish a productive working relationship under this MOU. To that end, they’ve exchanged memberships, with Green Marine now a sustaining member of AAPA, and AAPA, in turn, now an association member of the Green Marine Management Corporation. "Green Marine looks forward to working closely with the AAPA and those ports and terminals committed to raising the bar to advance environmental protection at seaports in the Americas," says Green Marine Management Corporation President Raymond Johnston.
"The Green Marine environmental program is tailor-made for all sectors of the marine transportation industry," explains Green Marine Executive Director David Bolduc. "The detailed framework provided by Green Marine can serve as guidelines for ports and terminals of all sizes to, first, measure their environmental footprint, and then take concrete actions to improve their performance."
In fact, port authorities and terminals currently comprise the largest segment of Green Marine’s membership. Participants include the ports of Seattle, Vancouver and Prince Rupert on the West Coast, and Duluth, Cleveland, Montreal and Halifax in the Great Lakes and East. Green Marine’s performance indicators have been developed in consultation with a wide range of industry stakeholders, including environmental groups, legislators and the academic and research community. The goal has been to ensure they address relevant environmental issues and offer concrete actions to be undertaken by the participating companies.
Green Marine Overview
Green Marine is a voluntary marine industry initiative with the goal of achieving levels of environmental performance that exceed regulatory requirements in areas such as air/land/water emissions. There are currently over 70 ship owners, port authorities, terminals and shipyards from coast to coast, in Canada and the United States, participating in the program. Green Marine certification process is rigorous and transparent: results are independently verified every two years and each company’s individual results are published. Green Marine relevance and credibility is proven through its growing number of supporters: more than 40 environmental groups and government departments/agencies have endorsed and help shape the environmental program. Green Marine is also drawing international recognition and received the Green Shipping initiative of the year at the Sustainable Shipping Awards 2011, in London, UK.
