AAPA, GETF announce five participants

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF) today announced five organizations that will participate in the third round of a 1-year training program that assists seaport authorities to develop and maintain state-of-the-art environmental management systems.

In two previous rounds (2005-2006 and 2006-2007), a total of 15 public seaport agencies from throughout the United States participated in the rigorous assistance program, which provides organizations training on management processes and procedures so they can better analyze, control and enhance the environmental consequences of their activities. 

Participating in the assistance project's third round, which begins in October, are: Georgia Ports Authority, South Carolina State Ports Authority, Port of San Diego, Port of Long Beach, and California United Terminals.  All participants in this round will be working to create environmental management systems.  At the request of three participants, AAPA and GETF offered a concurrent Security Management System (SMS) assistance training program last year.

AAPA is pleased to continue to offer the Port EMS Assistance Project for port authorities that are seeking to use an environmental management system approach to enhance their environmental performance, said Kurt Nagle, AAPA's president and CEO.  We're also enthusiastic about the participation of a private marine terminal operator (California United Terminals) for the first time in our assistance program.

The EMS Assistance Project is divided into four phases, to be completed over an 18 month span. Each phase begins with an intensive workshop that prepares participants to train and lead their port-based EMS implementation teams through completion of the EMS. The workshops include hands-on activities, mentoring from GETF staff and current ports implementing EMSs, and team work sessions.  Port specific guidance, document review and tools and resources are also provided throughout the project period.

EMS Assistance Project participants were selected based on top management involvement, organizational support and the ability to share experiences with peers, entities similar to their own and affiliated organizations.