‘All these problems are solvable’: Great Lakes shipping fights to cut emissions
by Stephen Starr in Cleveland, Ohio from on (#6NBYH)
A new, cleaner ship points way as US ports in the region are spending millions on upgrades in pursuit of net zero
It's just after 9.30pm on a Thursday night in late May when a conveyor belt begins dumping 21,000 tons of road salt into the cavernous hull of the MV Mark M Barker at a dock in Cleveland.
As the first US-flagged freighter to be built on the Great Lakes in nearly 40 years, the 639ft (195-meter)-long ship - launched in 2022 - is the only vessel of its kind in the region powered by cleaner, tier four" marine engines that meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency rules governing hydrocarbons and particle matter emissions.
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