How Will IMPAA Impact Shipping Trade Routes?

In recent months, U.S. trade has been at the forefront for many of us. But also, for many of us, when our packages show up at our door, we often forget the journey these items take, me included. When I began working on shipping emissions, I was astonished to learn that more than 90% of global trade moves via ocean transport. As you read this, there could be more than 50,000 ships crossing the ocean or loading/unloading at ports around the world. Shipping has a major role in our economy, but it also has an equally large impact on the air we breathe, our climate and the health of our ocean. 

Ships often run on some of the dirtiest fuels to get them from point A to point B, and they continue burning those fuels when they are docked in our ports. Think of an idling truck waiting in a parking spot—the engine is still running, and the exhaust system is pushing out those dirty black fumes into the air. For the shipping sector, vessels spew an estimated 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases every year. These dirty fumes have a huge impact on our health, our ocean and our environment. This pollution causes an estimated 250,000 premature deaths and six million childhood asthma cases globally each year—disproportionately impacting portside communities, which are often overburdened economically. According to the EPA, 39 million people in the United States live close to a port. This means more than 39 million people are directly breathing air that leads to these respiratory diseases, cardiovascular issues and other health problems. But there are solutions to these problems, and we all have the power to push them forward. 

One proposed solution is offered by the International Maritime Pollution Accountability Act (IMPAA), which was introduced in Congress by Representatives Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Kevin Mullin (D-CA) in the House and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in the Senate. This bill empowers the EPA to levy pollution fees on large marine vessels offloading cargo at U.S. ports, including a $150-per-ton maritime carbon fee and fees for emission of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and fine particulate matter. In turn, if passed, this solution would raise an estimated $250 billion over 10 years that would provide critical funding—for instance, modernizing the Jones Act fleet, revitalizing U.S. shipbuilding, decarbonizing the maritime economy and addressing pollutants in port communities along our coasts and in the ocean. 

While there have been concerns about fees like this driving ships away from our ports, re-routing to countries like Canada and Mexico, and using trucks or rail to import goods, a new study commissioned by Ocean Conservancy examines this potential for mode shift, and the findings should ease concerns. In fact, findings indicate that in the case of IMPAA fees, the potential for ships to divert from U.S. ports is low for the majority of routes. Actually, most established routes remain economically and environmentally favorable despite these additional pollution fees. This is great news for our ports, our communities and the future of clean shipping in the U.S. With policies that work in tandem to limit emissions from ships (via the Clean Shipping Act) and charge vessels for their pollution, we can push shipping to a zero-emission future and the industry to greener practices.

We look forward to this important piece of legislation being reintroduced in this Congress. In the meantime, check out Ocean Conservancy’s action center and demand climate action that supports a clean-energy transition!

Read more from our new study here!