Hahn, Asian Shipping Lines Reach Accord to Fight Smog

Several of the largest shipping lines in Asia have agreed to work with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on a program that supporters hope will clean up air quality at the port of L.A. and at the same time generate millions of dollars a year for the city agency.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said in an interview that the shipping lines will soon begin working with the city’s port, the DWP and environmental agencies to develop plans for shutting off their engines and plugging into the city’s power system while docked at the port.

That step could have significant impact on regional air quality, officials said, because so many ships use the port and burn fuel while there. About 2,200 cargo ship visits occurred at the port in 2001, and each ship stayed an average of two days. The typical medium-sized cargo ship burns 7 tons of heavy bunker fuel a day while docked, city officials said.

If successful, the “alternative maritime power” program would be the first to apply that notion on such a large scale, city officials said. The U.S. Navy uses a similar model, and cruise ships that dock in Juneau, Alaska, participate in a similar program. But no other city offers electrical power of this type for its major shipping lines.

“The benefits of this will be huge,” the mayor said. “We’re glad to be the leaders in this....For years, especially in the fall ... you can actually see a brown haze over the port because of the ships running their diesel engines.”

The mayor, who is winding up a 10-day business trip to Asia, also announced agreements between the ports of Los Angeles and Shanghai, among the busiest in the world, to share in initiatives aimed at improving air and water quality and mitigating other environmental concerns.

To persuade the shipping lines to agree to the alternative power program, the mayor met in Tokyo with officials from Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. While in Shanghai, he plans to meet with representatives of China Shipping, then Tuesday in Hong Kong with executives from Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. On the final stop of his trip, in Taipei, Hahn plans to meet with executives from Yang Ming Line and Evergreen Marine Corp.

Together, those are some of the world’s largest shipping companies, and each has indicated willingness to participate in the program.

For it to work, the shipping lines will need to retrofit their ships at a cost of about $500,000 each, but ultimately would reclaim that investment by saving money on the fuel that the ships now have to carry to run their engines while in port.

For its part, the DWP would need to build another underground substation at the port and make other substantial improvements that are expected to cost $50 million to $60 million over about 10 years, according to DWP Executive Director David Wiggs. Those infrastructure changes could be handled by the municipal utility without increasing rates to customers, he added.

DWP Could Benefit

Wiggs, who is traveling with the mayor and other city officials and business executives, said the DWP could generate $25 million to $30 million a year if the program is successful.

“This could be a model -- it’s a source of new income for the department at the same time we’re reducing emissions,” Wiggs said in an interview. “This is the best of both worlds.”

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who is also on the trip, represents the San Pedro, Wilmington area where air pollution has been a major concern to residents, and which has been blamed for various health problems, as well.

“The people who live next door to our port really have suffered as a result,” said Hahn, the mayor’s sister. “When those ships have their engines going in dock, it’s black, thick smoke coming out. That’s what we breathe down there.”

In addition to the economic and air quality benefits of the deal, she said, there would be indirect advantages. Cleaner air, for instance, might make it easier to encourage investment and development in the San Pedro waterfront area.

Environment a Priority

The mayor, a San Pedro resident himself, has pledged “no net increases” of emissions at the port. And he has encouraged port officials to make environmental initiatives a priority.

The Los Angeles port is the world’s seventh busiest. With 27 major cargo terminals, the port handles cargo worth $104 billion a year, making it a linchpin of the regional and even national economy.

City officials said they do not think the environmental agreements will spur the large shipping lines to do business elsewhere. In fact, Wiggs of the DWP acknowledged that the move has to make economic sense for these companies.

Jamie Wilson, president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, said the program “is a major step in the right direction to have steamship operators now realize they have to help solve Southern California’s pollution problems.”

Noel Parks, president of the San Pedro and Peninsula Home Owners Coalition, agreed, with some reservations.

“The devil is in the implementation: It’s a very expensive operation and all the shipping lines have to do is sign off on it,” he said.

“Given that the mayor is only announcing a research and development program, the big question is how long will it take?”

“As it stands, the port complex is growing by 6% each year,” he added. “At that rate, the growth will overtake the control effort’s benefits in just one year, and we’ll be right back where we started from.

But Todd Campbell, policy director at the Coalition for Clean Air, said: “We need the mayor to step in and take charge of this issue because the port has been dragging its feet on it for at least two years.”

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Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this report.