Bigger ships. Deeper river. Cleaner air? Georgia’s ports getting greener

Estimates are that commercial shipping vessels are responsible for 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions. That doesn’t include the pollution generated by other port activities, such as contaminants spewed from the tailpipes of the trucks, trains and cranes at shipping terminals.

As the state authority readies the nation’s third-busiest port for a bigger, deeper future — a new terminal is planned and a proposed shipping channel deepening would allow larger vessels to access the port — its leaders are cleaning up their air. In recent months, the port has secured $98.5 million in federal grants, with the authority pledging another $93.6 million in matching funds, toward electrification at its Savannah and Brunswick marine terminals.

The funds will be used to provide electric shore power for vessels while docked at the terminals. Currently, ships run their engines while in port to power their onboard systems, burning diesel fuel. Additionally, the authority will use a portion of the grant money to purchase 16 all-electric jockey trucks, used to move containers between ships and cargo yards.

At a grant award ceremony in December, an Environmental Protection Agency official called the ports authority’s projects a “catalyst for change” that “set a standard for ports nationwide.”

For authority CEO Griff Lynch and the board of directors, the investment marks a new milestone. The Georgia Ports Authority has long been criticized for paying lip service to their facilities’ environmental impact, except in cases where going green means more green — money — for the port.

Such is the case with Savannah’s Mason Mega Rail, an on-site railroad terminal that’s proved lucrative because it moves freight from ship to customer much faster than trucks. It’s also environmentally friendly, with one rail engine doing the work of hundreds of diesel-fueled tractor trailers by pulling container-laden trains 2 miles long. Estimates are the Mega Rail eliminates 1 million truck trips annually.

“We’re trying to be responsible,” said Lynch, who joined the Georgia Ports Authority in 2011 and has led the organization since 2016. “I’m not one of these people who is going to say we’re going to be carbon neutral by such and such a date, because I think some of the people who say that don’t actually believe it.

“But we are going to do the best we can and look for ways to mitigate or offset or reduce our emissions.”

Credit: NYT

Credit: NYT

Spurred — and incentivized — into action

Environmental watchdogs applaud the shore power improvements but expect more from Georgia’s ports when it comes to addressing air quality.

Two years ago, the Savannah-based environmental justice group Harambee House began tracking pollution in a west Savannah neighborhood near the port terminals. The grant-funded project launched after an Environmental Protection Agency study ranked the Hudson Hill community among the worst in the country for airborne toxins that cause respiratory illnesses.

Data shows the air is dirty in Hudson Hill but there aren’t enough particulate-air monitors deployed — 24 currently — to collect what analysts would consider a representative sample. The monitors require a broadband internet connection, and many homes in the low-income neighborhood lack access.

Harambee House this year plans to install as many as 60 monitors that record data on SD cards and don’t need an internet connection. The group is seeking funds to expand the program through public and private grants, local governments and the ports authority.

“We want them to have the same tenacity to invest in the air quality monitors as they have for the resiliency projects at the terminals,” said Shakeena Reeves, Harambee House director of community outreach.

Another ports expert, Terrance Bankston with the environmental group Friends of the Earth, points out the ports authority was slow to take advantage of grant money made available under federal legislation, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Dealand the Inflation Reduction Act.

“You don’t get extra credit for taking money that’s offered to you,” said Bankston, who chastised the port for its inaction in a June opinion essay in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Rivals green with envy

The dock electrification project is a “tone setter” for Georgia’s ports, Lynch said. The Savannah and Brunswick terminals won’t be the first to offer what is known as “cold ironing” to docked vessels — two California ports provide shore power, as do facilities in Europe — but it is the pioneer among its East Coast rivals.

Shore power has the potential to give the ports authority a competitive business advantage. Environmental stewardship is a growing priority for shipping companies, and reports of significant emissions reductions at other cold-ironing ports couldn’t be ignored.

Credit: Georgia Ports Authority

Credit: Georgia Ports Authority

For example, Sweden’s Vartan port claims a 93% reduction in carbon dioxide pollution since installing onshore power supply systems.

“Ocean carriers are using newer, larger ships that are already designed to reduce emissions,” Lynch said. “More and more they are asking their stakeholder partners, ‘Here’s what we’re doing. What are you doing?’”

Green movement

The Georgia Ports Authority has undertaken several projects in recent years aimed at reducing air emissions at its terminals, which in 2023 totaled 224,327 metric tons — with vessels, trucks, rail engines and cargo-handling equipment producing 75% of that pollution.