The Clean Air Act has made it so 1960s smog emergencies in U.S. cities are a faint memory. But hotspots remain, and port city neighborhoods are among them.
A new report from the U.S. Maritime Administration points to one way modest cooperation and cost-sharing between government and industry could help. A $400,000 grant from Marad to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency in Washington State started out by replacing four old, unregulated engines on a tugboat, but leveraged that into other actions with more clean air benefits.
The funding updated the 71’x23’x9’ 2,000 hp tug Island Chief, operated by Island Tug & Barge, Seattle, by switching out 34-year-old engines with EPA certified Tier 2 or cleaner engines. The Puget Sound maritime community got the side benefit of helping to educate its young people, with Seattle Maritime Academy students participating in the repower project.
In addition, the project led to the replacement of three engines on IT&B’s 57’x27’x7’ 1,200 hp tug Island Eagle. Half the money the company saved on fuel in its first year of running the repowered Island Chief was invested in upgrading propulsion engines on the 98’x29’x11’ 4,000 hp Island Voyager.
More than a repowering project, the partnership with Marad was all about sustainability, according to the Clean Air Agency. Two Seattle Maritime students got full-time internships to work on the engine replacements, a harbor vessel workshop promoted emission reductions and fuel efficiencies for the industry, and the agency is using its new connections to look at funding more sustainability projects.
One finding out of Puget Sound is that replacing smaller engines like generators can deliver more clean-air benefit for the cost.
“Overall, auxiliary engine replacements are more cost-effective (dollars spent per emissions reduced) than propulsion engine replacements because auxiliary engines are standalone units that require significantly less labor for installation,” the Clean Air Agency noted in its project report. “Shore power projects for harbor craft vessels show potential for providing significant emission reductions, but the cost effectiveness may vary more from company to company depending on their docking facilities.”
The Puget Sound experience could contain lessons for other port regions. California has an aggressive plan to reduce air pollution, part of an overall strategy to increase efficiency and reduce emissions from port trade.
On the East Coast, New York and New Jersey port planners are looking to move more cargo for regional destinations by barge, with cleaner and more efficient transport that would help reduce truck diesel emissions in the cities’ blue-collar neighborhoods.
Using grants is a way to speed up engine replacements with new, cleaner technology, the Puget Sound report says. Marad’s backing led to another project, funded by Washington State, that put up $372,800 to provide incentives up to $21,500 per engine replacement, based on engine size and EPA certification tier, for nine vessels so far.
“Without incentives, harbor craft owners do not replace engines until they fail or the replacement is required by federal or state regulations,” the report notes. “Even small incentives can make the difference between whether a project happens or not.”
