The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Port of Los Angeles (LA) and the Port of Long Beach (LB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with the support of C40 cities, to create a green, digital shipping corridor between Singapore and the San Pedro Bay ports complex to enable the decarbonisation of the maritime industry and improve digital efficiency.
The MoU was signed by the Chief Executive of MPA, Teo Eng Dih; the Executive Director of the Port of LA, Gene Seroka; and the Executive director of LB, Mario Cordero.
“No single port or organization can tackle the challenge of decarbonizing the supply chain alone, no matter how innovative their technology or robust their efforts. The establishment of this green shipping corridor between the San Pedro Bay Port Complex and Singapore will prove to be a living, breathing testament to the power of global collaboration,” said Seroka.
“I am honoured to be here with key leaders from MPA Singapore, the Port of Long Beach, and C40 Cities to sign this MoU, turning a shared commitment to fighting climate change into a meaningful step forward toward the future of global sustainability.”
“Curbing greenhouse gases from international shipping is essential to fight global warming,” said Cordero.
“Creating this green corridor with our partner ports and C40 Cities is part of our strategy to coalesce all of our efforts here and beyond to help advance our goals for cleaner marine fuels for oceangoing vessels, improve efficiencies for the global movement of goods, and to achieve a carbon-neutral future."
C40 cities are the facilitators of the green, digital corridor, which provides assistance to the cities, ports, and their corridor partners by coordinating, convening and providing communications support to further the corridors goals. Singapore, LB and LA are leading hub ports which are essential to the trans-Pacific shipping lane and act as key stakeholders to the green transition of the maritime corridor.
Before the revisions of the International Maritime Organisations (IMO) Initial Strategy for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emission from Ships in July 2023, the three ports will meet with the C40 cities and other stakeholders to collectively reduce carbon emission in the maritime industry as a part of IMO goals, and Singapore and the US’s Nationally Determined Contributions.
The MoU encourages the continued use of platforms such as the Port Authorities’ Roundtable and chainPORT, to facilitate co-operation, while complementing the bilateral initiatives between Singapore and the US, including the US-Singapore Climate Partnership, and the US-Singapore Partnership for Growth and Innovation.
“Shipping is responsible for approximately a gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions each year. But the good news is that many shipping companies, ports and countries are stepping up. Today’s MOU is one of those pieces of good news,” said US presidential Climate Envoy, John Kerry.
The corridor aims to assist the transition to low- and zero-emission fuels for ships calling at Singapore and the San Pedro bay ports complex. Parties who signed the MoU will facilitate the supply and adoption of these alternative fuels, as well as explore the infrastructure and regulations required for bunkering.
Additionally, the MoU aims to identify digital shipping solutions, development standards and the best practices for green ports and the bunkering of alternative fuels, while sharing experiences on international platforms such as the IMO.
The MoU follows an announcement supporting the Green Shipping Challenge launched during the World Leaders’ Summit at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference.
“The signing of this MoU signals our collective will to pool our resources, technical insights, industry and research networks to deliver scalable green as well as digital corridor solutions to help the maritime industry attain the 2050 emission reduction targets expected of the International Maritime Organization, and help spur the development of green growth opportunities,” said Teo Eng Dih.
“Delivering science-based, rapid and concrete action on shipping emissions is crucial to ensure the shipping sector decarbonization is aligned with the goal of keeping global heating below 1.5 degrees Celsius. C40 is proud to support this first mover initiative aimed at accelerating the transition to low- and zero-carbon fuels and other decarbonization technologies,” said C40 Cities Executive Director, Mark Watts.
