Foss announced that it joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a voluntary collaboration between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. Foss is the first carrier accepted into the program for its marine transportation services.
Foss has pledged to contribute to the partnership’s goal to reduce 33 to 66 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and up to 200,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year by 2012 by improving the environmental performance of its marine operations. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and nitrogen oxide is an air pollutant that contributes to smog.
Foss recently announced it will build the first true hybrid tug boat, scheduled to be delivered in 2008 to Southern California where it will work in the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. Together, these ports handle over 40 percent of all containerized cargo coming into or leaving the United States. The Foss hybrid tug is expected to achieve significant reductions in fuel consumption and emissions when compared to its sister tugs currently operating in the same market.