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The Port of Seattle presented its Green Gateway Partners Awards, which recognize the comprehensive environmental achievements of the port’s cruise and containership lines.

This year's award winners are Maersk Line, COSCO Container Lines America’s Inc., Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, and Holland America Line.

"These awards show that maritime businesses are doing the right thing for the environment every day," said Tay Yoshitani, Port of Seattle CEO. "Their efforts have removed hundreds of tons of pollutants from Puget Sound air."

The name of the awards – Green Gateway Partners – is in reference to the Port of Seattle's perceived role as the 'green gateway' for maritime trade between Asia and the American Heartland.

A study released in 2009 showed that for cargo originating in much of Asia and bound for a wide range of destinations across the United States, routes through Seattle resulted in lower carbon emissions than other routes.

The Green Gateway Partners Awards set as a minimum requirement participation in the port’s At-Berth Clean Fuels program or use of shore power. These and other environmental activities are assigned point values. Depending on the number of points earned, Green Gateway Partners can achieve one of four recognition levels – platinum, gold, silver or bronze. The awards and scoring system were done by analysts from Cascadia Consulting Group and Glosten Associates.

- Holland America Line, for the second year in a row, earned the port's highest level award, platinum, for use of low sulphur fuels beyond the required levels, zero discharge of ballast water in Puget Sound, and Marine Sanitation Devices contributed to its high scores in the Air & Energy and Wastewater categories.

- Earning gold this year is Princess Cruises, for use of low-sulphur fuels beyond the required levels, zero discharge of ballast water in Puget Sound, Advanced Wastewater Treatment Systems, and Marine Sanitation Devices contributed to its high scores in the Air & Energy and Wastewater categories.

- Earning silver are Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean for use of low sulphur fuels beyond the required levels and Advanced Wastewater Treatment Systems contributed to its scores in the Air & Energy and Wastewater categories.

- Also earning silver this year are COSCO Container Lines and Maersk Line, for their use of low sulphur fuels beyond the required levels, which contributed to their high scores in the Air & Energy category. Maersk also earned extra points for additional Innovations described in its application.