Ports

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Contact

Kathleen Bailey (bailey.kathleen@epa.gov)
National Ports Sector Point-of-Contact
(202) 566-2953

Sector Profile

The port sector, as defined by NAICS codes 48831 and 48832, includes marine cargo loading and unloading, and operation of port and waterfront terminals, i.e. piers/docks/buildings. Of about 2000 public and private ports in the US, we are currently focusing our sector strategies work on the top 85 deep draft public ports on the coasts and in the great lakes.

Between 1970 and 1995, US international waterborne freight nearly doubled, and is forecast to triple by 2020. Ten billion dollars will be spent over the next 5 years to expand the commercial use of public port terminals. An equal amount may be spent to expand port security. This port growth has tremendous implications for intermodal transportation, e.g. ships, trucks, and trains, as well as property utilized for port activity. The challenge is to help the ports and their trade partners minimize their environmental footprint, even as they grow, i.e. to be economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible.

Read the Ports chapter in the Sector Strategies Performance Report.

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Working with the Industry

EPA Strategy for Sustainable Ports

EPA has developed a Vision, Mission and Strategy for Sustainable Ports to help guide the agency as it continues to engage public port authorities and other stakeholders in voluntary efforts to reduce the environmental impacts associated with moving goods through the marine transportation system. EPA’s vision states, “EPA will partner with ports, their business partners, their communities and other stakeholders to become world leaders in sustainability. Ports will be environmentally and socially responsible, economically viable, safe and secure”. EPA’s more specific mission for sustainable ports is to, “collaborate with marine port authorities, their business partners and port communities to promote sustainability and to minimize the negative effects of inter-modal marine and land-side goods movement on human health and the environment”.

The Strategy has six themes and a number of related action items. The six themes are Clean Air and Affordable Energy, Clean and Safe Water, Healthy Communities and Eco-systems, The Global Environment, Ports Communications, and Enforcement. EPA Strategy for Sustainable Ports (MS Excel, 39K)

The Strategy supports existing and new EPA programs and projects that will produce measurable results in 2008 and beyond in support of EPA’s Vision for Sustainable Ports, as well as related components of EPA’s 2006-2011 Strategic Plan. The strategy builds on the successes of programs developed by individual North American ports, the success of collaborative work EPA has been doing through a partnership with the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), and the port related efforts of EPA’s Regional Diesel Collaboratives and other programs on the domestic and international level.

EPA headquarters and regional offices have made commitments to work with others to implement specific actions in the Strategy based on their priorities, such that all 72 action items will be addressed through our combined efforts. It should be noted that the implementation of some actions will depend on the level of funding in the FY ’08 budget. A progress report will be made available to the public by the end of 2008.

The Vision, Mission, and Strategy were developed by an EPA cross-media ports team and were ratified by Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock, Regional Administrators and pertinent headquarters Assistant and Associate Administrators on September 6, 2007, at their second annual meeting on the environmental implications of port operations and growth. EPA presented the Vision, Mission and Strategy to the Executive Committee and staff of the American Association of Port Authorities at a November 28, 2007, meeting.

Frequently Asked Quesions

Current Methodologies and Best Practices in Preparing Port Emission Inventories

Current Methodologies and Best Practices in Preparing Port Emission Inventories (PDF) (46 pp, 898 K,, About PDF) describes what has been learned about development of port-related emission inventories to date and is a tool that can be used to inform the development of such inventories. This January 5, 2006 final report represents the completion of a June 23, 2005 draft report entitled, Best Practices in Preparing Port Emission Inventories. View the methodological and other updates made after the January '06 final report.

An emission inventory is necessary for port authorities, those doing business at ports (such as tenants and shipping companies), state/local entities, or other interested parties to understand and quantify the air quality impacts of current operations, and to access the impacts of port expansion projects or growth in port activity. An inventory provides the baseline from which to create and implement emission mitigation strategies, and track performance over time.

We welcome feedback on the usefulness of the document and seek comments that will contribute to continuous improvement in the methodology to quantify port-related emissions. Please send comments to Kathleen Bailey (bailey.kathleen@epa.gov).

Emission Reduction Incentives

Emission Reduction Incentives for Off-Road Diesel Equipment Used in the Port and Construction Sectors (PDF) (94 pp, 588 K, About PDF), dated May 19, 2005, informs the development of incentives to reduce diesel emissions from off-road equipment used in the port and construction sectors.

Revisions in the final report reflect comments made on the January 21st draft. More than a dozen sets of written comments were received. In addition, the final report reflects discussions held on January 26th at the Clean Ports USA Workshop; on March 8th at the Clean Diesel and Retrofit Workgroup and Subgroup meetings for Ports and Construction; and on March 15th at the Diesel Retrofit Forum at the annual convention of The Associated General Contractors of America. We want to especially thank all those who took time to be interviewed for the report and/or provided comments.

We expect this report will have broad appeal to anyone interested in learning what kinds of incentives show potential for helping businesses in other sectors reduce their emissions.

Environmental Management Systems

An Environmental Management System (EMS) Primer for Ports: Advancing Port Sustainability (PDF) (50 pp, 1.4 MB, About PDF) The purpose of the document is to help ports develop EMSs and understand how an EMS can advance port sustainability. The development of the primer is a project of the 4+ yr. partnership between the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sector Strategies Program.

An EMS is a formal system for proactively managing the environmental footprint of a port. It incorporates environmental considerations and decision-making into a port's day-to-day operations and into its strategic planning, which can help ports save money and support their competitive advantage.

The EMS Primer provides:

an overview of each element that comprises an EMS,
real life examples of how ports have implemented each element in the field, and
a discussion of how each element can be extended to include facets of broader sustainability.

In September 2004, Sector Strategies released a brochure highlighting the benefits of EMS implementation at ports around the nation. Environmental Management Systems: Systematically Improving your Performance (PDF) (880 K, 12 pp, About PDF) was created in partnership with AAPA, GETF, and multiple ports that have adopted EMSs.

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