Cleaning up US ports with $2.9 billion in funding

Except for people who live adjacent to commercial docks and working waterfronts, ports have been largely out of the public eye in the State.

Recent disruptions, like the “supply chain crunch” of 2021-2022, the Ever Forward grounding in the Chesapeake Bay, and, more recently, the Dali bridge allision in Baltimore, have increased seaports’ visibility, albeit temporarily. Media-fueled fears about longshoremen work stoppages have also brought a spotlight to the role of ports.

On Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the industry has continued to gain prominence on legislators’ radar, as evidenced by the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) which is administered by the US Maritime Administration (MARAD).

Under the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, $450 million per year is to be set aside under the PIDP. Under a different initiative, the Clean Ports Program (CPP), under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act- from 2022, grants are awarded to ports specifically for lowering emissions and improving air quality. The money can go towards actual hardware improvements- under “the Zero Emission Technology”, or “ZE Tech” initiative, as well as for longer term “Climate and Air Quality Planning”, under a separate funding stream.

Related:Port of Corpus Christi – positioning to handle future fuels

Coinciding with the just-concluded American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) 2024 annual convention in Boston, Mass, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA)- which runs the CPP, announced approximately $2.9 billion in funding to be awarded in 55 grants.

Major grants have been awarded at the Port of Los Angeles- $412 million, Virginia Ports- $380 million, Port of New York / New Jersey- $344 million, and the Port of Oakland- $322 million. Many of the grants include funding for shore power deployment, as well as shifts from diesel to electric powering of shoreside equipment.

In the US Gulf of Mexico, the Port of Corpus Christi has been awarded $105 million of ZE Tech funding. The funding will go towards installation of shore power at one dock with multiple charging stations, retrofitting of battery electric power for a pair of locomotives in the port, as well as purchase of zero emission (also battery electric powered) forklift equipment.

Seventy percent of the price of the equipment purchases/retrofitting work will be funded through the Federal grants, with the balance funded through the Port Corpus Christi Authority (PCCA) along with private sector equipment owners. These will include Bay Houston Towing Company, Signet Maritime Corporation, Suderman & Young Towing Company, and Watco- a short-line railroad and terminal operator serving the port.

At the PCCA, Jeff Pollack, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, told Seatrade Maritime News: “Port Corpus Christi’s Clean Ports Grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency will fund a wide range of zero-emissions equipment, including the construction of three, zero-emissions, battery electric tugboats — one for each of the three tug companies operating at the Port. These state-of-the-art tugs will be deployed to support all manner of vessel movements within the Port, thereby directly supporting goods movement and balance of trade while reducing mobile source emissions.”

Tug operator Suderman & Young, a major provider of ship assistance to vessels in the burgeoning crude oil export trade from the port, had submitted a plan for a battery powered tug to be built, contingent on the successful grant application. According to the company, “The tug plan [we] submitted with the grant application would be North America’s most powerful electric tugboat…” The specifications include 100+ metric tons bollard pull, a battery capacity of 8,500+ ekW and a capability to recharge (after performing three ship assist jobs in under three hours).

Resource

EPA 2024 Clean Ports Selections   https://www.epa.gov/ports-initiative/clean-ports-program-selections

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