The strong connection between Green Marine members

February 11, 2022

What do Cupid and Green Marine have in common? They both spark encounters and facilitate synergies.

The Green Marine network brings together more than 400 members around the same goal and, therefore, presents numerous opportunities for collaboration on the maritime industry’s sustainable development. On this Valentine’s Day, Green Marine thought of presenting you with some of the “matches” made between two of the program’s members that have led to beautiful projects. Here then are some of the ‘love stories’ between participants, supporters or partners who’ve come together to work towards improving the industry’s environmental performance.

And it doesn’t end with these examples as love never divides but instead multiplies!

The Port of Sept-Îles and INREST incubated their infant project: the Centre for Industrial Port Expertise

In 2020, the Nordic Institute for Environmental and Occupational Health Research (INREST) and the Port of Sept-Îles inaugurated the new Centre for Industrial Port Expertise, an INREST division, which is the first research centre dedicated to industrial-port ecosystems.

This innovative centre, important for the pursuit of research activities initiated within the framework of the Observatoire de la baie de Sept-Îles (which is the Sept-Îles Bay’s environmental monitoring observatory), would not have been possible without the long-term financial support of the Port of Sept-Îles which has committed to funding $250,000 over a period of five years.

The Centre’s mission is to provide environmental and occupational health insights and services by gathering experts from various sectors to give managers in the area, as well as in other maritime regions in Quebec, Canada and abroad, centralized research and development services and technical support adapted to specific environmental issues related to the management of operations in industrial and port zones.

Desgagnés and ROMM work hand in hand to save marine mammals!

To reduce the risk of collisions between ships and whales, the Marine Mammal Observation Network (ROMM) has been collaborating with Groupe Desgagnés since 2015 to gather whale observation data. With Green Marine’s help, these two partners sought the maritime industry’s commitment to expand this data collection around Canada’s East Coast. The initial partnership between ROMM and Desgagnés expanded thanks to the Green Marine network: multiple partners are now involved in the project. Back initially in 2015, the crew members on 18 of the 20 vessels in the Desgagnés fleet collected sighting data on the whales they encountered in the salt waters off Quebec, as well as Eastern and Northern Canada.

This first productive collaboration led to the project taking off! Since then, several other Green Marine participating ship owners have joined the project, including CSL, Fednav, Algoma, Oceanex and the Société des traversiers du Québec (the province’s ferry administration). ROMM has even developed several key tools for whale watching, such as the online training course, a marine mammal visualization map, and a website.

Prince Rupert Port Authority, SAAM Towage Canada and Climate Smart: united for a better (not worse) low-carbon future

Two of Green Marine’s participants based in British Columbia, namely the Prince Rupert Port Authority and SAAM Towage Canada, are joining forces to coordinate investment in major projects to significantly reduce energy consumption and emissions. With financial support from Radicle’s Climate Smart Solution (a Green Marine partner) and the Canadian government’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, the two enterprises will effectively transform their operations to significantly reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority has committed to two projects to provide dockside electricity to vessels, reducing fuel consumption by 60%. Meanwhile SAAM Towage Canada is proposing to install power converters on the three remaining tugs in its fleet not yet equipped for shore power, thereby facilitating their use with electrical shore power instead of engines and diesel generators. In addition to improving local air quality, these combined projects are expected to reduce CO₂ equivalent emissions by more than one million tonnes.

Several other Green Marine participants have been accredited by Radicle’s Climate Smart Solution, such as the ports of Vancouver and Victoria, Ridley Terminals, G3 Vancouver, Western Stevedoring, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, Pacific Coast Terminal, West Coast Reduction, BC Ferries, Global Container Terminals Canada and Neptune Terminals. You can find out more about their initiatives in the case studies published on the Climate Smart website.

Fednav and WWF: a promising union for research and conservation in the Artic

WWF-Canada (a Green Marine supporter) and Fednav (a Green Marine founding member) met at Green Marine’s annual GreenTech conference that always provides excellent networking opportunities. It was during one of this event’s coffee breaks that a Fednav representative conveyed to WWF-Canada representatives in greater detail the ship owner’s year-round activities in the Arctic to ensure the north-south transit of mining products.

WWF-Canada then approached the ship owner, the only Canadian maritime transportation company operating year round in the Artic, to request Fednav’s support in ensuring environmental safety and sustainability in the North.

Since then, Fednav has notably contributed financially to bringing about a comparative study of best operational practices for Arctic maritime activities, making it possible to better determine the measures to be taken to protect the Arctic environment. These two Green Marine members also joined forces to have the Polar Code proposed by the International Maritime Organization adopted as soon as possible as internationally recognized regulations for the safety of maritime activities in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Their efforts have been successful with the new IMO rules to respond to international concerns regarding the protection of polar environments and the safety of seafarers and passengers put into effect in January 2017.

Atlantic Towing and Vard Electro: the heart of innovation

In 2021, Green Marine participant Atlantic Towing chose its ‘suitor’ in Green Marine partner Vard Electro to install a hybrid battery system in its 2017-built PSV Atlantic Shrike and equipped with hybrid diesel-electric propulsion.

Vard Electro was contracted to supply a containerized SeaQ Energy Storage System (ESS) to provide hybrid-battery power, control and monitoring of the remaining hybrid system managed by the existing SeaQ energy management system on board. By absorbing and distributing the energy during load fluctuations to optimize engine performance, the batteries provide significant fuel savings and thereby lower emissions.

Read other ‘wonderful matches’ between Green Marine members: