The Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai announced September 22 that they would be working together to create the first-ever Trans-Pacific green shipping corridor (a shipping route that supports zero-carbon emissions vessels and other emissions-reducing programs).

As part of the initiative, the three ports released their Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan Outline, a first-of-its-kind program developed with support from C40 cities — a collection of 96 cities that comprise 25% of the global economy — in an effort to reduce carbon emissions from the world’s most populated places.

"This trans-Pacific green corridor will be a model for the global cooperation needed to accelerate change throughout the maritime industry. Reducing emissions in this corridor will yield substantial reductions,” said Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “For perspective, most of the emissions associated with moving cargo by ship occur in the mid-ocean part of the journey between ports.  This corridor will help reduce mid-ocean emissions while continuing the work we have done to cut emissions within our ports."

Under the plan, carrier partners will deploy reduced or zero lifecycle carbon-capable ships on the routes by 2025.