Port of Long Beach, Matson-SSA terminal agree to cold-ironing amendment

Port of Long Beach, Matson-SSA terminal agree to cold-ironing amendment    The Port of Long Beach said Tuesday its board of commissioners has tentatively agreed to a landmark lease that for the first time includes “green port” environmental improvements, which over the next decade will reduce air pollutants by 90 percent at a major container cargo terminal.
   Under a lease amendment approved Monday, SSA Terminals (a joint venture of SSA Marine and Matson Navigation Co.), will phase in the use of shore-side electricity, or cold-ironing, and other environmentally friendly technologies that will significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and diesel-related particulate matter from ships at berth and from cargo-handling equipment used at the terminal.
   The amendment to a 20-year lease signed in 2002 between the Port and a SSAT for the 68-acre Pier C facility calls for major investments from both sides. Under the revised lease, the Port will invest $7.3 millions to build dockside electrical infrastructure for cold-ironing to improve air quality and Matson and SSA will make significant investments to upgrade ships and cargo-handling equipment.
   Matson agreed to retrofit five vessels in its current fleet to use shore-side electricity or technology that is at least 90 percent as clean as cold-ironing. A class of older vessel will be retrofitted with technology that is at least 80 percent as clean as cold-ironing. The company also has agreed to gradually eliminate the use of older steamships that are unable to accommodate the most current anti-pollution technology.
   SSAT will accelerate the replacement of its terminal cargo-handling fleet with cleaner-burning tractors and other equipment several years before the new technology will be required by law.
   If the Harbor Commission votes for final approval, the SSAT lease agreement would be the first at a major port in which a cargo terminal operator voluntarily agreed to cold-ironing provisions and other environment improvements without the mandates of litigation, regulation or a government-required environmental review.
   “The Green Port Policy is a huge challenge for us, both in cost and in proving the viability of cleaner cargo-handling technology,” Jon Hemingway, president of Seattle-based SSA Marine, said in a statement.