Page 22 - Port of Baltimore - May/June 2019

PORT ENVIRONMENT
Port Tour Attracts Community Interest
environmental efforts, Port employment and how this huge enterprise operates.
One focus of the day included discussions about what the Port has been doing to improve air quality.
“The air quality has never been better in Baltimore in the last 100 years,” Chandra Chithaluru, SERM’s Air Quality Policy and Program Manager, explained to the group, while showing information published by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The improvement is due, in part, to grant-funded projects that have enabled the Port to upgrade or replace older trucks and diesel
The community — actually communities — stepped up for the spring Stakeholders Port Tour sponsored by
the Baltimore Port Alliance’s (BPA) Environmental Committee.
Members of nine organizations representing 11 different neighborhoods in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County attended to hear about the progress that the Port is making in reducing air emissions from cargo- handling equipment and trucks hauling cargo to and from the Seagirt and Dundalk Marine Terminals. Community representatives were the biggest contingent among the nearly 25 attendees, one of the largest crowds yet to attend these semi-annual tours that started in 2015.
From the Ports America Chesapeake (PAC) conference room above the cargo entrance to the terminal at Seagirt, tour- goers could see the constant interplay of cranes of varying sizes, forklifts, trucks and people moving strategically to unload a ship packed high with containers of goods. Seagirt, operated by PAC, is the Port’s main container terminal. Dundalk Marine Terminal is largely a roll-on/roll-off facility, with most of its cargo — cars, light trucks,
farm and construction equipment — able to be driven or rolled onto and off ocean-going vessels.
The program began with an overview and a brief history of the Port by the BPA Environmental Committee Co-Chair Rupert Denney. It also featured Committee Co-Chair Bill Richardson, Manager of Safety, Environment and Risk Management (SERM) for the Maryland Department
MDOT MPA and its partners have helped to upgrade or retrofit 110 pieces of cargo-handling equipment, more than 190 dray trucks, six Port locomotive engines and four marine engines.
[20] The Port of Baltimore ■ May/June 2019
of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA), and safety, environmental and operations experts Solomon Egbe, Aamer Qureshi and Chris Hensell from Ports America Chesapeake.
Tour participants had plenty of questions for their hosts and presenters. Among the discussion topics were
air- and water-quality initiatives, their effectiveness and sustainability,
the costs and benefits of the Port’s
equipment to reduce emissions even as cargo volumes have increased.
The Port has received more than $11 million in federal grant funds since 2008. MDOT MPA and its partners have helped to upgrade or retrofit 110 pieces of cargo-handling equipment, more than 190 dray trucks, six Port locomotive engines and four marine engines. Upgrades to these diesel engines have resulted in a reduction of