West Coast Green Marine Participants Show Strong Environmental Performance
By Eleanor Kirtley, Senior Program Manager, Green Marine
West Coast participants are demonstrating that environmental performance can move in step with operational strength and supply chain relevance. The newly released 2025 Green Marine Performance Report shows the industry’s continued improvement. Across all sectors of certified participants: ship owners, shipyards, terminal operators, and port authorities, the program received 244 reports, comprising 1,690 reported levels. On a scale of levels 1 to 5, the overall average rose from 2.9 in 2024 to 3.1 for 2025, and the number of participants achieving at least one Level 5 rose from 82 to 109.
The average for all certified ports, fifty-two spanning the US, Canada, and Australia, at 3.2, exceeded the overall average. The twelve US West Coast ports – Anacortes, Bellingham, Everett, Hueneme, Longview, Northwest Seaport Alliance, Oakland, Olympia, Redwood City, San Diego, Seattle, and Stockton – reached an even higher average, at 3.4.
West Coast ports stand out for results that meet or exceed the overall port average across most performance indicators. Where Level 1 represents monitoring regulations, all USWC ports have met the voluntary best practices at Level 2 and above for the performance indicators on dry bulk handling and storage, environmental leadership, spill prevention and stormwater management, and waste management. Their strongest performance (average level achieved) was in greenhouse gases and air emissions (3.7), aquatic ecosystems (3.8), community relations (4.0), leadership (3.8), and stormwater (4.1). These strongest West Coast results are in the areas that commonly matter most to port communities and supply chain partners alike.
West Coast ports are not advancing on a single issue in isolation; they are demonstrating balanced performance across air emissions, aquatic ecosystems, community engagement, operational controls, and environmental governance.
US West Coast terminals, on their end, tell a clear story of growth and continual improvement. Newly certified participants in 2025 are Husky Terminal, Levin Richmond Terminal Corporation, SSA Marine (Oakland International Container Terminal), and The Pasha Group (Wilmington). The 20 returning participants posted a net gain of 42 levels in 2025, averaging 2.1 levels of improvement per terminal – almost double the global net average of 1.2 levels per participant.
Those gains are concentrated where it matters most for climate, communities, and day‑to‑day operations, with the greatest increases in the Air Emissions – Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollutants indicator, Community Relations, and Waste Management. This group includes seven sites operated by SSA Marine, six more under Ports America, four Metro Ports’ locations, and both Trapac terminals.
U.S. West Coast terminals are working tangibly beyond compliance, actively using the Green Marine framework to translate high‑level commitments into concrete operational changes on the ground.
In a trade environment where customers, communities, and business partners increasingly expect credible proof of progress, that breadth and height of performance is a competitive strength as much as an environmental one. For a region defined by trade gateways, working waterfronts, and growing public expectations, the message in the 2025 results is straightforward: West Coast participants are proving that measurable environmental progress and port performance can, and should, advance together.
About Eleanor Kirtley
Dr. Eleanor Kirtley opened Green Marine’s first U.S. and satellite office when she joined the program in November 2014. As senior program manager, she coordinates the annual certification process and program development with the other three program managers. Eleanor facilitates the West Coast Advisory Committee and ship owners’ technical committee and supports our participants in the PNW, on the West Coast, and elsewhere in the United States. With her background in naval architecture and marine engineering, she is responsible for air emissions and underwater radiated noise and for oversight across the comprehensive environmental scope. In addition, she serves in the environmental seat and as Vice Chair on the Washington State Board of Pilotage Commissioners.
About Green Marine International
Incorporated in May 2024, Green Marine International is the governing body that oversees the environmental certification programs Green Marine, founded in Quebec City in 2007, and Green Marine Europe, launched in 2020. Its mission is to advance sustainability in the maritime industry through a voluntary certification program that drives continual improvement. More than 220 participants from a dozen countries are engaged in this voluntary initiative by the shipping industry aimed at going beyond regulatory requirements.