Chinese Consul Guangming Gu and approximately 150 participants from more than 25 ports and related entities worldwide attended the inaugural Pacific Ports Clean Air Collaborative Conference. The event was held December 13-15, 2006 in Los Angeles and they met to discuss challenges and solutions to air pollution created by port operations.

The conference wrapped up with a ceremonial "commitment" among conference participants, signaling their willingness to attend future conferences in order to continue dialogue about common challenges, emerging technologies and viable initiatives for reducing air emissions at ports all over the Pacific Rim.

"The Port of Los Angeles really felt that so much could be gained by having representatives from the many Pacific Rim ports in the same room, sharing information and getting all the issues out on the table," said Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles. "It is my hope that as we continue to build our relationships with other Pacific Rim ports partners, and we can expand our discussions to include other ports that I know have interest in attending future meetings of our Pacific Rim Ports Collaborative. We were happy to get the ball rolling on these international issues by creating this conference, and look forward to benefiting from all the hard work done by these participants in the years to come."

The conference, held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, featured three days of information sharing, including a presentation on Alternative Maritime Power(TM) (AMP(TM))/cold ironing, whereby container ships shut off their diesel engines while at dock and instead plug in to clean electrical power. AMP(TM) is presently used at the Port of Los Angeles - currently the only port in the world to use this technology for container ships.

Additional conference topics included sessions that focused on the need for green ports and international collaboration; air emissions inventories; new technologies in engine, shipbuilding and emission testing, discussions surrounding the pressures on ports for air quality improvement; and overviews of programs to reduce port related emissions.

The conference was created and hosted by the Port of Los Angeles, and sponsors of the conference include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Shanghai Municipal Port Administration Bureau.

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