Dozens of behemoth cargo ships adorned with tall stacks of brightly colored containers still dot the coastline off southern California. Part of a shipping bottleneck plaguing US ports, the ships – their diesel-fueled engines always ablaze – are also pumping out pollutants as they idle, anchored off-shore, reports the Guardian.
Global supply chain disruptions
The clogged supply chain has been described as an economic calamity as the delayed cargo caused shortages in common goods and drove consumer prices higher. But environmentalists and public health advocates are concerned it’s also turning into a climate catastrophe.
The container ships awaiting entry are compounding the levels of contaminants that have long come from the ports and that impact the local environment, coastal communities and ambitious carbon targets needed to curb the worst effects of climate change. With the holiday shopping frenzy just around the corner, there are now concerns the problem may get worse before it gets better.
“The conversation right now is really focused on supply chain backlog and refilling the shelves with products – but that’s not the whole story,” said Madeline Rose, the climate campaign director for Pacific Environment, a climate advocacy organization that has been pushing for retailers to switch to clean energy shipping.
The other side of freight transport
An essential part of the economy, the ports bring in 40% of goods shipped to the US and ship out 30% of its exports, according to state records.
The freight system, which includes the trucks, trains and planes that help distribute goods brought over on ships, also generates $9bn in tax revenues for the state and is responsible for a full third of the state’s economy. But it comes at a high cost. The system is also responsible for nearly half of California’s air pollution.
The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, two of the nation’s busiest, create more than 100 tons a day of smog and other cancer-causing contaminants that choke local communities – rivaling roughly 6m cars on the roads across the region each day.
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Source: The Guardian
