Foss Guides EPA Administrator on a Tour of the Port of Long Beach

Foss’ Hybrid Tugs on Display

LONG BEACH, CA, DECEMBER 2, 2013 – Gina McCarthy, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, toured the Port of Long Beach on Nov. 21, viewing the Port’s environmental initiatives first-hand aboard a Foss crew boat, the Caribe Horizon, which was repowered with an EPA grant.

Ms. McCarthy pilots the Caribe Horizon

On display, among other emissions-reducing projects, were Foss’ two hybrid tugs, the Carolyn Dorothy, and the Campbell Foss. Hybrid technology has been proven to significantly reduce emissions while improving fuel economy. Foss has been honored for advancing hybrid tug technology that reduces greenhouse gasses, airborne particulates and pollution in all its forms. Earlier this year the EPA verified the environmental benefits of the hybrid tug retrofit system that had undergone rigorous testing in Southern California waters.

Since 2005, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have cut port-related diesel emissions by roughly 80% with a wide-range of programs for ships, trucks, trains and watercraft. Ms. McCarthy viewed Long Beach’s shore power facilities and some of the cleaner cargo-handling equipment.

Foss’ Caribe Horizon, the crew boat that the Administrator and other port of Long Beach and Los Angeles dignitaries traveled aboard for the 30-minute tour, had previously replaced its engines with cleaner Tier 2 engines in part due to a 2009 DERA grant.

The DERA grants received by Foss to repower some of its tugs and crew boats with cleaner engines were made available by the EPA through the National Clean Diesel Campaign. They are examples of the nearly 60,000 pieces of clean diesel technology the EPA has funded since 2008 when the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act was enacted.