PORTS GOING GREEN

In a 2 part-series, Nazery Khalid looks at efforts made by container port operators and authorities to reduce their carbon footprint.

- NAZERY KHALID

As the world reels from the increasingly apparent and worrying impacts of global warming and climate change, greater focus is being trained on industries and businesses to curb emissions and operate in a more green and clean manner.

Being a key facilitator of global trade, 90 percent of which is carried by seaborne transport, ports have joined the bandwagon with other industries to ‘go green’. Operators of commercial ports which handle various types of cargos and passenger terminals are at the forefront among marine industry players in making notable efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.

This shift towards being carbon neutral stems is propelled by their realization of the need to play an exemplary role in efforts to curb emissions to match their profile of being key infrastructures in the global trade ecosystem and supply chains. It is also driven by their awareness that ‘going green’ is not just a must to safeguard mother nature but also a logical path to take to enhance their competitiveness thus ensure their own economic survival and business sustainability.