A group of organizations including The Center for Post Carbon Logistics has written to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, urging him to embrace a policy of the domestic production of as many as 3,000 fossil-fuel-free Liberty Ships.

The December 16 letter to Buttigieg and Rear Admiral, Ann C. Phillips, US Navy (Ret.) at the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, argues this would offer an innovative solution to “the extreme impact maritime shipping is having on the world’s climate.” 

If the maritime sector were a country, it would be one of the top six carbon polluters, the letter argues. “We are proposing a real-world solution: To meet the climate crisis, end carbon pollution by fossil-fueled ships forever, and secure America’s import-export lifelines far into the future – a significant series production ... possibly as many as 3,000 fossil fuel free Liberty Ships at full build-out.”

Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program.

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The letter urges Buttigieg to implement a program of building a fleet of zero-emission vessels that will “bring the 120,000 miles of inland waterways and coastline of the U.S. into action, reducing carbon emissions and congestion on our roadways, while providing a fleet of technologically advanced ships that ply the world’s oceans, showing our nation’s ensign in their zero-emission wakes.”

“The ships will incorporate alternative (near-zero-carbon) fuel systems, solar/battery/electric motors, and the latest in wind propulsion technologies, all produced by existing U.S. manufacturers who can scale up to meet the challenge,” the letter’s authors continued. “American made, owned, flagged, and crewed, ready to lead to the world into a better future: This is the Great Green Fleet we need for the 21st century.

”The letter’s authors are Andrew Willner, executive director, The Center for Post Carbon Logistics; Melissa Everett, executive director, Sustainable Hudson Valley; Sam Merrett, skipper of the Schooner Apollonia; Geoff Uttmark MM, MSc, BSc, Ship Shares and Trans Tech Marine; David Borton, president, Sustainable Energy Systems, Inc. and Solar Sal Boats; Murray Fisher, managing director, U.S. Coastal Service, Inc. and The New York Harbor School; and Gregg Zuman, managing director of RevX.

Secretary Buttigieg has yet to make a response.