The PNW2Alaska Green Corridor sets new bar for maritime sustainability

Pacific Northwest communities and economies rely on the maritime industry, and a new effort focuses on making our waterways greener than ever. The Pacific Northwest to Alaska Green Corridor (PNW2Alaska) for cruise is an ambitious collaboration among 14 organizations to create a new era of low- and zero- greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cruise travel between Alaska, British Columbia and Washington.

Decarbonizing this environmentally sensitive route is challenging. Urban ports like Seattle and Vancouver can access large amounts of clean electricity to run shoreside operations and may have easier access to alternative fuels being developed. Smaller, remote ports in Alaska have more infrastructure and access challenges. Any decarbonization solution needs to work for cities, boroughs, ports, and cruise lines carrying passengers thousands of miles.

The Green Corridor initiative will consider the unique needs of each partner as it tests the feasibility of local solutions to decarbonize cruise in the Pacific Northwest. One goal for all partners is that this first cruise-led Green Corridor can be an ideas test bed that accelerates decarbonization at the 2,000 river and ocean cruise ports around the world.
 

Charting a course for sustainability

The PNW2Alaska Green Corridor was launched in May 2022 by a broad coalition of organizations involved in the Alaska cruise market, including: the Port of Seattle; Canadian ports including the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and the Port of Victoria, B.C.; the Alaskan Ports of Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, and Haines; the global cruise industry association, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA); major cruise lines Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings; and NGOs working on decarbonization.

“No single group can achieve decarbonization. Combatting the reality of climate change takes honesty, accountability, innovation, and partnership,” said Port of Seattle Commission President Hamdi Mohamed of the collaboration. “We want to become a zero-emission port by 2050, and we need communities and industry partners to work together to meet these ambitious goals.”

The PNW2Alaska Green Corridor is an example of what public-private partnership committed to climate action can look like. It was established in response to the 2021 Clydebank Declaration, a global commitment to create six green corridors on specific shipping routes by 2025, with corridors in operation by 2030, to move the needle toward maritime decarbonization at scale. Twenty-four countries took the commitment, the U.S. and Canada among them.
 

Harnessing regional partnerships and expertise

Establishing a green corridor for cruise is ambitious work without an existing template. A project of this magnitude starts with building a strong coalition of willing partners, a comprehensive planning process and research to identify feasible decarbonization pathways. In early 2023, the project partners published a charter to establish the project’s objectives, governance and an initial approach to studying the feasibility of low- and- zero emission cruising to lay the groundwork for the deployment of appropriate fuels and vessel technologies in the region.

The Pacific Northwest is uniquely situated to lead this work. It is a nexus for maritime research and development, and clean technology innovation. In addition, climate action is a growing political and community expectation, as is the need to reduce emissions for communities surrounding ports. Ports and cruise industry partners are aligned and committed to decarbonization.

The cruise corridor between Seattle and Alaska has more than 30 cruise ships sailing between Washington, British Columbia and Alaska from April through October, with 275 cruise calls in Seattle alone during the six month 2023 season. The Port of Vancouver set a new record with 332 cruise ship calls in 2023, a 9% increase from the previous year. The route is also frequented by a diverse array of non-cruise commercial vessels like cargo ships.

Seattle is a home port for cruise ships sailing to Alaska. This means that ships begin and end their seven-day itineraries at one of Seattle’s two cruise terminals. It also means that the ships need to fuel and provision while turning over passengers in Seattle. The regularity of this cruise itinerary creates an ideal testing ground for how to deploy low- and zero-emission maritime fuels. By contrast, cargo ships may call on several ports during a voyage and therefore have more flexibility in fueling locations.

“We have a really strong and sophisticated environmental team,” said Stephanie Jones Stebbins, managing director of the Maritime Division at the Port of Seattle. “Our leadership has really made us especially well positioned to take on a big challenge like this.”

The Port’s commitment extends to all kinds of decarbonization strategies.

“Not only are we, the Port, able to play this important facilitator and convener role in how to drive the long-term transition to new, cleaner fuels, but we’re also focused on emission reduction opportunities in the near-term and implementing solutions available now — like shore power that allows cruise ships to plug into Seattle City Light to reduce emissions while at berth,” said Ryann Child, a senior environmental program manager for the Port.

Shore power allows cruise ships to connect to clean power while they dock in port. The ship can then turn off its diesel engines, nearly eliminating diesel emissions while the ship is connected. In Seattle where the electrical grid is primarily hydropower, powering a ship at berth from clean electricity rather than diesel offers significant savings on greenhouse gas.

“That’s huge,” said Mohamed. “Those are the types of transitions that I think the public is also looking for us to make.”

Shore power infrastructure was initially installed in Seattle in 2005. By the end of 2024, all three of the Port’s cruise berths will be equipped with shore power. On June 11, 2024, the Port of Seattle became the first port in the nation to independently require that 100% of all cruise vessels homeported in Seattle be shore power capable and utilize shore power. The order passed by the Port of Seattle Commission takes effect in the 2027 cruise season, three years before the Port’s previous goal of 2030. Every home port ship connecting in a season could avoid 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. That means that every ship using shore power in Seattle can eliminate the emissions equivalent of 2,380 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year, according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
 

Fueling the future

In addition to focusing on emission reduction opportunities like shore power, the partnership is exploring how the cruise industry can transition to new zero-emission fuels. Shore power is a sound first (and already existing) solution to reduce emissions, but without new fuels shore power alone will not fully reach the Port’s decarbonization goals.

Unlike other sectors, electric power isn’t a practical solution. Stephanie Jones Stebbins outlines the current challenges specific to the maritime industry.

“If you’re driving a car, you can have a big enough battery to make an electric journey possible. But [traveling at sea] you can only maybe get 40 or 50 miles on electricity. And ocean voyages are too long to rely solely on electrical power.”

Green fuel alternatives research in progress

Most oceangoing vessels, including cruise ships, are powered by fossil fuels made from petroleum. Currently, there is not one clear pathway to power oceangoing vessels from cleaner sources of energy, and no zero-emission technology or fuel commercially available at scale. An ideal maritime fuel has the following characteristics:

• An efficient energy carrier
• High energy content
• Safe to use and store
• Can be produced at scale and cost competitive
• Minimal environmental impacts across the entire production lifecycle

Green fuel alternatives are being researched and piloted around the world, but there is not one that currently meets all these requirements for the maritime industry. Several options for zero-emission maritime fuels have emerged, including biofuels and hydrogen-based fuels like green methanol and green ammonia. To be “green” these fuels must be able to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions on a “well-to-wake” basis, which means net zero from fuel production, delivery, and use on the ships. 

“That’s where adjusting approaches to fuel could make a big difference, said Jones Stebbins. “We need a fuel that doesn’t yet exist.”

Green methanol study kicks off

This year the PNW2Alaska Green Corridor project will launch a feasibility study to focus on green methanol. The study will evaluate the demand, production, and availability of green methanol for use as a maritime fuel in the region, the delivery of cruise ships able to run on green methanol, and the readiness for bunkering green methanol in both Seattle and Vancouver. 

Project partners are working with the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (the Center), who developed a blueprint for green corridor feasibility studies that is being applied to projects around the world. The Center is also working with the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) on a marine cargo green corridor between Seattle, Tacoma, and South Korea.
 

Beyond emissions: environmental justice and economic prosperity

In addition to tackling carbon emissions, the Green Corridor project values encompass public health and safety, environmental justice, and economic prosperity.  

“Originally, the Port of Seattle was created to generate family wage jobs,” said Jones Stebbins. “Our aim is to ensure the prosperity of the region while achieving zero-carbon emissions. It’s challenging to focus on both simultaneously, but we’re committed to providing jobs while protecting the environment.”

“A just transition away from fossil fuels is also thinking about communities that work in those industries as well,” said Mohamed. “And so it really does require us being thoughtful in our strategy when we’re thinking about decarbonization of the shipping industries and the cruise industry.”

For the Port of Seattle, this means working side-by-side with communities situated near seaport terminals and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. “Our neighbors are experiencing compounded environmental issues,” said Mohamed. “So centering their voices has been a priority of ours and including them in how we are launching new programs is an essential step for the Port.”
 

A maritime paradigm shift

Shifting the maritime sector towards more sustainable practices is complicated. There is not yet a clear global guideline to limit greenhouse gas emissions from oceangoing ships that serve a complex global supply chain. Realizing a green corridor for cruise in the region will require overcoming a number of technological, logistical, and regulatory obstacles tied to fuel production, technology development, and constructing new infrastructure.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the fuel pathways for how shipping and cruise can transition to zero-emission operations,” said Mohamed. “There’s not one single solution. That means there are just a lot of risks that cruise lines and shipping lines are facing with their investments and in planning for the future.”

But despite these obstacles, the Green Corridor partners remain optimistic about the future — and the potential for the PNW2AlaskaGreen Corridor to serve as a model for sustainable maritime operations globally.

“There’s just so much possibility out there,” said Mohamed. “And if we are successful, we will be able to lead the change that the international community is also looking for. It will be a groundbreaking endeavor, and that, to me, is really exciting for us to be able to lead in a way that contributes a positive legacy to our region.”

With each step forward, the project not only moves closer to achieving its immediate goals but also contributes to the broader fight against climate change, setting a precedent for collaboration, innovation, and sustainability in the maritime industry.

“We must act with urgency when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and establishing a green corridor with zero greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mohamed. “It’s a huge undertaking. And we’re on the right path to make that happen.”

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