The backup of cargo ships waiting to deliver goods to the Port of Los Angeles last year caused a spike in greenhouse gas emissions, a new report shows.
Emissions from port-related sources spiked during the height of the supply chain crisis as ships carrying goods from Asia waited for days and sometimes weeks to deliver to the busy seaport.
Compared to 2020, emissions of diesel particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides increased 56, 54, and 145 percent respectively, according to a report released by the port Oct. 6.
“The environmental impact of a congested supply chain was evident last year,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a release. “The backlog of ships sitting outside San Pedro Bay was significant.”
The new volunteer system assigns arriving ships a time and date at the dock based on when they left their last port and their expected arrival time.
Previously, ships headed directly to the port received a docking time once they were within 25 nautical miles off the southern California ports.
Those participating in the new program were spread out across the Pacific Ocean and off the coast of Mexico. The ships are now required to “slow steam,” or operate below their maximum speed, toward the San Pedro Bay and wait at least 150 miles offshore instead of waiting outside the breakwater.
Emissions began to decrease at the port following the implementation of the new program, but 2021 measurements were significantly impacted by the backup, Seroka said.
“We’re working hard to address these issues and improve results,” Seroka added. “We are now providing incentive funding for zero emission trucks, testing a range of new green technologies and working internationally to decarbonize ocean shipping between Los Angeles and China.”
At the same time, the port has reduced the backlog of ships waiting to enter the San Pedro Bay by more than 90 percent and are looking at more measures, Seroka said.
Despite the emissions increases, most long-term clean air gains in the San Pedro Bay complex, which also includes the Port of Long Beach, were on track, he said. Emissions of diesel particulate matter and sulfur oxides continued to meet 2023 clean air goals, with diesel particulate matter reductions at 85 percent below 2005 levels.
Sulfur oxide emissions were 95 percent below 2005 levels.
Nitrogen oxides emissions, however, no longer meet the 2023 clean air goals, reaching only 44 percent below 2005 levels. The goal was for them to drop 59 percent, Seroka said.
At the height of the ship congestion in January 2022, 109 cargo ships waited at anchor or in holding areas, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. That has now been reduced to fewer than 10 on an average day. The drop in traffic is partly a result of carriers diverting ships to East and Gulf coast ports to avoid the backup.
The Coalition for Clean Air, based in Los Angeles, pushed the ports in November to reduce their emissions, Policy Director Bill Magavern told The Epoch Times.
A study released in November 2021 by the California Air Resources Board showed the increase in cargo ship traffic during the height of the pandemic in 2020 pumped about 20 tons of additional nitrogen oxides, the key ingredient of smog and soot, into the Los Angeles region, Magavern said at the time.
