Duluth earns favourable marks in Green Marine environmental rating

(Posted on 14/06/24)

The Duluth Seaway Port Authority and its terminal operations on Rice’s Point ranked among the USA’s top performers in the recently released Green Marine 2023 environmental performance report, posting a 3.43 score on Green Marine’s five-point scale. The overall average for port authority participants in 2023 was 3.12.

More than 700 vessels and 30 million short tons of cargo move through the Port of Duluth-Superior each year, making it the Great Lakes’ largest tonnage port and one of the USA’s top 20.

Twenty privately owned bulk cargo docks and an award-winning general cargo terminal populate the working waterfront, along with a marine fuelling depot, a shipyard with dry docks, multiple tug and barge services, plus an intermodal cargo terminal.

The annual report rates port authority participants in eight categories: air emissions, community impacts, community relations, dry bulk handling and storage, environmental leadership, underwater noise, waste management, spill prevention and stormwater management. A record 56 North American ports participated in the evaluation process in 2023, with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority ranking No. 10 in the United States and No. 1 among U.S. Great Lakes ports.

“Green Marine provides a tangible scoreboard that encourages maritime organizations to take measurable steps beyond regulatory obligations, with performance criteria that become increasingly robust each year, and independent review of the scoring,” said Jeff Udd, Duluth Seaway Port Authority director of government and environmental affairs. “The process raises awareness of our commitment to minimizing environmental impacts, and it helps us continually improve.”

The voluntary Green Marine certification program began in October 2007 and now includes 187 participating ship owners, port authorities, seaway corporations, terminal operators and shipyard managers. Program participants must adopt practices and technologies that continually reduce their environmental footprint on land, air and sea. The Duluth Seaway Port Authority has participated since the program’s inception. Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, was re-elected to the 12-member Green Marine board of directors on May 23, 2024.

The port supports more than 7,000 jobs and contributes $1.3 billion in business revenue to the regional economy.