Green Marine reports steady environmental progress by its maritime industry participants
Seattle, Friday, May 29, 2015 – Green Marine awarded their environmental performance certificates to more than 80 maritime companies yesterday during its GreenTech 2015 conference being held in Seattle, Washington.
“It’s wonderful to welcome colleagues from across the continent to talk about further greening our business,” says Linda Styrk, Managing Director, Maritime Division, Port of Seattle and a Green Marine Board member. “Green Marine’s program helps organizations improve their environmental performance, and GreenTech is a great opportunity to learn from each other’s experience.”
The past year has been a banner one in terms of Green Marine’s recognition. A total of 11 participating companies – including the sixth largest U.S. cruise port, a major container terminal operator in New York, New Jersey and Vancouver, B.C., and one of the largest ferry operators in the world – achieved Green Marine certification for the first time:
- BC Ferries
- CSL Australia
- GCT Global Container Terminals Inc.
- Marine Atlantic
- Owen Sound Transportation Company
- Pinnacle Renewable Energy (Westview)
- Port of New Orleans
- Richardson International (Hamilton)
- John’s Port Authority
- Tidal Coast Terminals Ltd.
- Yellowline Asphalt Products
The North American environmental program currently has 89 participants, compared to 34 when the initiative was launched in 2007.
The overall average obtained for 2014 was 3.1, compared to the average Level 2 achieved when participants submitted reports for the first evaluation year of 2008. Companies evaluate their performance for 11 indicators on a scale of Level 1 to 5. Individual company results are subject to an independent verification and published annually.
Green Marine’s positive results for 2014 clearly demonstrate that the ship owners, ports, terminals and shipyards participating in the program continually strive to improve their environmental performance.
In fact, 57% of the participants advanced at least one level in one or more performance indicators in comparison to their evaluation a year earlier. This increase is even more significant among the ship owners: 65% of them attained a higher level for at least one of the performance indicators.
Air and Water Quality
“This continual improvement reflects the concrete actions taken by our participants,” explained David Bolduc, Green Marine’s Executive Director. “A full 88% of the ship owners achieved higher levels for at least one of the indicators related to air quality, and nearly three-quarters of the ports and terminals have a plan in place to prevent water and land pollution. All these measures go beyond regulatory compliance.”
The 2014 results also demonstrate the program’s effectiveness in driving the maritime industry towards environmental excellence year after year, according to Paul Gourdeau, President of Federal Marine Terminals. “Being a participant in the program makes a real difference in the long term, as evidenced by the 3.4 overall average of the longest participants compared to the global average of 3.1 for all the participants combined,” he said.
A member of the Green Marine board since 2012, Mr. Gourdeau was elected as the new chair yesterday upon the departure of Greg Wight, who is retiring as President and CEO of the Algoma Central Corporation. In addition, Green Marine welcomes two new members to the board: Allister Paterson, the President of Canada Steamship Lines; and, Stephen Edwards, the President and CEO of GCT Global Container Terminals.
The 2014 performance report, which includes the individual results of all the certified participants, is available here.