Shanghai, LA mull building world's 1st green shipping corridor spanning Pacific

A meeting on jointly building the "Port of Shanghai-Port of Los Angeles Green Shipping Corridor" was concluded Monday, with several agreements reached on building the world's first trans-Pacific green shipping corridor.

Wang Weiren, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government and leader of the delegation, told Xinhua that the meeting focused on the pilot application of green methanol and other new marine fuels, the use of shore power for vessels, the construction of smart terminals, and the digital transformation of shipping.

The Port of Shanghai is the world's busiest container port and the Port of Los Angeles the biggest one in the United States.

The Shanghai-Los Angeles shipping route is one of the most dynamic routes in the global economy, with nine weekly international container liner services between the two ports. In 2022, the container throughput between the two ports exceeded 1.3 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).

In January 2022, the two ports jointly proposed the initiative of the Green Shipping Corridor aimed at achieving port-to-port cargo transportation between each other in the cleanest and lowest carbon manner.

During Monday's meeting, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Erin Bromaghim expressed the hope of working together with Shanghai to establish a closer and regular working dialogue and collaboration mechanism, so as to jointly promote the construction of the project and use this as an opportunity to further enhance personnel exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between the two cities.

According to the implementation plan outline, by 2025, carrier partners will begin deploying reduced or zero lifecycle carbon emission capable ships in the corridor.

By the year 2030, it is envisioned that qualified and willing shipping lines will work together to demonstrate the feasibility of deploying the world's first Zero Lifecycle Carbon Emission Container Ship(s).

During this construction period, port partners will take measures to reduce carbon emissions from terminal operations while cargo owner partners will set targets and contract with carriers to use zero lifecycle carbon emission shipping services.

"Throughout this process, stakeholders will track and report carbon emissions, assess decarbonization progress," Wang said, noting the two sides are keen to "make this trans-Pacific green corridor a global example for green, low-carbon, and sustainable development in the shipping industry."