A quick glance at a shirt tag, or produce container will reveal that what you bought at your local mall or market started out in Cambodia, Chile or China. And the complex system that makes that journey possible is goods movement. Ocean going ships make more than 10,000 visit to ports in the U.S. from around the globe each year. Close to 45 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers entered the U.S. in 2005. Cargo containers come in standardized units to make for systematic efficiencies when transporting from ship to crane to truck to rail to truck again, and each standard cargo container box is 2 TEUs. Just in California, there are 100,000 drayage trucks statewide, 15,000 interstate locomotives, well over 4000 cargo handling equipment, and 40,000 refrigerated cargo containers. Within the U.S. the top 10 ports in volume of containers moved are:
Goods movement is all about technology, infrastructure, and fuels. The technology are the tools and vehicles—ships, trains, planes, trucks, cargo handling equipment—that move things from place to place. Infrastructure—the transportation byways whether water, air, land or rail—enable goods movement. Fuels literally drive goods movement technology. And the energy system underlies all of the above. It is the underlying energy system, currently driven by oil, which makes the current goods movement system so damaging and unsustainable. Delivery of goods to ports and from there to consumers is powered by diesel fuel each step of the way. Burning diesel fuel releases health threatening toxic air contaminants, smog forming air pollutants, and climate changing greenhouse gases. Our approach to goods movement is purposely port-centric, given that ports are the center of global goods movement and impacts. The ports also have abundant opportunity to be a center of cleaner technology, fuels, infrastructure and energy. Every port is interrelated to every community across the United States, and then again to the rest of the world. U.S. ports are interconnected to global trade and hence an international picture of impacts and possibilities. The solution lies in education and collaboration, and strong policy leadership and investment. Additional Items
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- Health costs to Californians, so far this year, of port related pollution in California.
The Ports of LA Long Beach Clean Air Action Plan passed in November 2006, and 0 clean trucks service the ports.
Port Pollution Facts
- In Long Beach, 20% of children under 17 have been diagnosed with asthma - nearly twice the national average.
- $67 million: The cost of respiratory problems associated with ports in CA.
- Diesel Exhaust is responsible for 84% of the cancer risk from air pollution in the Southern California Air Basin.
- $19 BILLION: Cost on health system due to port pollution. average.
- Each day the Port of LA emits over 30 tons of NOx, while a half a million cars emits less than 24 tons and the average power plant emits less than 5 tons.
- 2,400 - Estimated number of premature deaths caused by diesel emissions.
- 800,000: Number of children that pollution reduction could save from lung disease.
- Each day the Port of Los Angeles emits over 30 tons of NOx, while a half a million cars emits less than 24 tons and the average power plant emits less than 5 tons.
What's Goods Movement?
