In 2006, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (Ports) adopted a Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) that was updated in 2010 and 2017. The 2017 CAAP Update identifies strategies to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases by setting targets for zero tailpipe emissions from cargo handling equipment and trucks by 2030 and 2035 respectively, while helping to develop and demonstrate technologies to reduce CO2 emissions from other sources, including ships, trains, and harbor craft. We hope these technology advancement demonstrations will help accelerate the availability clean technologies necessary to move toward a carbon free Port.
One of the key technology development activities underway at the Port of Los Angeles is the demonstration of how zero emission technologies will be able to handle cargo as it is unloaded from a ship, moves through a terminal, and ultimately is transferred off terminal and on to its final destination. If successful, this will establish a “zero emissions pathway” for cargo as it moves throughout our port.
One element of this zero emissions pathway concept is featured in one of our terminal equipment demonstration programs, where we are testing eight zero emission yard tractors along with two of the world’s first zero emissions top handlers. Another element of this pathway is featured in our “Shore to Store” project where we are working with a truck manufacturer, Kenworth, to develop ten zero-emission Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks that include Toyota’s fuel cell drive technology. In this demonstration, freight operators will move cargo on these trucks in and out of the Ports and throughout Southern California. In order to create hydrogen fueling support for this project and the public, Shell, a worldwide fuel provider, has constructed two renewable hydrogen fueling stations that will be part of a wider network of hydrogen fueling stations throughout the region. This project also includes two zero-emission yard tractors that will operate at a terminal at the Port of Hueneme, as well as demonstration of two zero-emission forklifts in a regional commercial warehouse to showcase a complete supply chain operating on zero emissions.
We hope the success of these projects will be a model for ports around the world to move toward zero emission operations.