Ports of Singapore, Long Beach, and Los Angeles Sign Green Shipping Corridor Pact

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Port of Long Beach, and Port of Los Angeles, along with support from C40 Cities, signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a green and digital shipping corridor.

The purpose of the corridor is to support the decarbonization of the maritime industry and improve efficiencies through digitalization. The signing of the memorandum was witnessed by various leaders from Singapore and the United States.

Building Green Corridors for Shipping Will Take Teamwork

The green and digital shipping corridor aims to facilitate the transition to low- and zero-emission alternative fuels by ships calling at Singapore and the San Pedro Bay ports complex, which is home to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The parties involved will work together to facilitate the supply and adoption of alternative fuels and explore the necessary infrastructure and regulations for bunkering. The memorandum also aims to identify digital shipping solutions and develop standards and best practices for green ports and the bunkering of alternative marine fuels.

The “C40 Cities” is a climate group made up of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities who are working to confront the climate crisis.

As leading hub ports, Singapore, Long Beach, and Los Angeles are vital to the transpacific shipping trade and are key stakeholders in the maritime sector’s green transition. The memorandum follows an earlier announcement in November 2022 to establish the corridor and builds on the ports’ long-standing cooperation through platforms such as the Port Authorities’ Roundtable and chainPORT, and bilateral initiatives between Singapore and the United States.

The MOU marks the latest “green shipping corridor” partnership coming after the launch of the “Clydebank Declaration” during a key UN climate conference, COP26, held in Scotland in November 2021. During that summit, a coalition of 19 countries agreed to create zero emissions shipping routes to speed up the decarbonization of the global ocean shipping industry, which accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Similar corridors have also been announced between Los Angeles and Shanghai and Singapore and Rotterdam.

This latest green and digital shipping corridor is in line with the goals of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Initial Strategy for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships and Singapore’s and the United States’ respective Nationally Determined Contributions. The three ports, C40 Cities network, and other stakeholders in the maritime and energy value chains will come together to accelerate the decarbonization of the maritime industry.

“Shipping is responsible for approximately a gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions each year. But the good news is that many shipping companies, ports and countries are stepping up. Today’s MOU is one of those pieces of good news,” said John Kerry, U.S. Presidential Climate Envoy.

Teo Eng Dih, Chief Executive of MPA, said, “The signing of this MOU signals our collective will to pool our resources, technical insights, industry and research networks to deliver scalable green as well as digital corridor solutions to help the maritime industry attain the 2050 emission reduction targets expected of the International Maritime Organization and help spur the development of green growth opportunities.”

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