The Prince Rupert Port Authority honoured three companies last week with Green Wave awards.
The Green Wave program was introduced in 2013 to incentivize investment in environmentally sustainable measures by commercial vessel owners that call on the Port of Prince Rupert.
The 2023 recipients include container shipping line COSCO, liquefied gas shipping line Navigator Gas and BC Ferries. These companies will receive reduced harbour fees based on their vessels emissions and underwater noise performance.
A press release stated the awards are abased on standards recognized throughout the global maritime industry, which are regularly updated to incorporate evolving environmental best practices.
“The Prince Rupert Port Authority applauds the 2023 Green Award recipients, each of whom are repeat winners of this accolade, for their continued investment in sustainable transportation and proactively reducing their environmental footprint,” said Shaun Stevenson, PRPA president and CEO.
Stevenson added the port is proud of the level of participation in the Green Wave Program and “how it represents our collective efforts within the global shipping industry to enable the adoption and acceleration of sustainable practices.”
In 2023, 37 per cent of the vessel calls (92) to the port qualified for the program. The port said there have been approximately 540 calls on the port since 2014 that met the standards for Green Wave under the RightShip Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Rating.
“The method, developed by the world’s leader in maritime environmental assessment, rates vessels on their relative efficiency,” the press release stated.
PRPA estimates this has eliminated 615,200 tonnes of GHG emissions in the local airshed over the past decade, the equivalent of removing 12,960 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.
“These savings are key to PRPA’s goal of reducing carbon intensity at the Prince Rupert Gateway by a further 30 percent by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050,” the port said.
The 2023 Green Wave program also recognized the owners of the bulk carrier Key Guardian and cruise vessel MS Roald Amundsen, operated by Hurtigruten “for using underwater noise mitigation technology to reduce the impacts of vessel noise on marine mammals’ communication along Canada’s west coast.”
The Roald Amundsen is the world’s first hybrid electric expedition cruise ship. It is also the first vessel to visit Prince Rupert that has received an underwater noise notation from the globally recognized ship classification society DNV.