NEWS/EVENTS
News Articles
July 8, 2011
Ports of Antwerp and Los Angeles Announce Intention to Join ESI at IAPH Conference in Busan
The Port of Antwerp and the Port of Los Angeles announced their intention to offer incentives to clean ships under the Environmental Ship Indexing (ESI) program during the IAPH World Ports Conference in Busan, Korea in May 2011. On July 1, 2011, the Port of Antwerp became the 4th port to offer incentives through this program, joining the Ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Oslo.
The Port of Los Angeles also announced plans to start an ESI program later this year. The Ports of Bremen and Hamburg are also in the process of developing programs. Since this conference, two additional ports have come forward to announce their planned participation: the Ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven.
The ESI identifies seagoing ships that perform better in reducing air emissions than required by the current emission standards of the International Maritime Organization. The ESI is based on the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur oxide (SOx) and greenhouse gases that are released by a ship.
The index is intended to be used by ports to reward ships when they participate in the ESI and will promote clean ships, but can also be used by shippers and ship owners as their own promotional instrument. It should be noted that while ESI will provide a total score, the rewards can either be based on that total or on each of its constituent parts separately. The program is completely voluntary and WPCI hopes that the global port community will assume its role in improving the maritime and port environment. Finally all stakeholders in maritime transport can use the ESI as a means to improve their environmental performance and as an instrument to reach their sustainability goals.
For more information on ESI, see www.environmentalshipindex.org