By
Cherie Rowlands |
Green Marine and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 16 October to jointly advance the environmental sustainability of port and terminal operators in the Western Hemisphere.
The agreement is to act as a framework for increased environmental cooperation between both parties for the region’s seaports, which include Green Marine members Seattle, Vancouver and Prince Rupert on the West Coast, as well as Duluth, Cleveland, Montreal and Halifax in the Great Lakes and East.
To ensure a productive working relationship under the MOU, Green Marine and AAPA have exchanged memberships – Green Marine is now a sustaining member of AAPA and AAPA has become an association member of 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,” said Green Marine Management Corporation president Raymond Johnston.
AAPA has committed to encouraging its members’ participation in the Green Marine environmental programme 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 Nagle. “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 programme is valid, applicable and scalable for port authority and terminal operations.”
A joint Canada-US initiative aimed at implementing a marine industry environmental programme throughout North America, Green Marine’s performance indicators have been developed in consultation with industry stakeholders that include environmental groups, legislators, and the academic and research community.
Green Marine executive director David Bolduc said: “The Green Marine environmental programme is tailormade for all sectors of the marine transportation industry. The detailed framework provided by Green Marine can serve as guidelines for ports and terminals of all sizes, first to measure their environmental footprint, and then take concrete actions to improve their performance.”
The AAPA is a trade association that was founded in 1912 and represents more than 160 public port authorities in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as around 300 sustaining and associate members, companies and individuals with interest in seaports.