The president of the Goderich Port Management Corporation says they're very proud to be the 10th Great Lakes port authority to join the Green Marine program.
“Ports are actually asked to reach a certain level of environmental performance and are assessed against the standards that have been established by the program," said Roland Howe. "It's universal and there's a number of ports, shipping companies and shipping yards that are actually already participating and setting a high standard.”
Roland points out Goderich is the only deepwater port on the eastern shore of Lake Huron and is continuing to expand its economic impact in the region.
Howe added they are already practicing many of the things recommended by the program, so it won't dramatically change what they do.
“One of the things we do is we make sure that anybody who needs access for transferring, say, fuel or any other liquid supplies or taking liquids off vessels, they're assessed and actually asked to sign an access agreement, so we're pretty stringent on who can and can't come into the port and deliver hydro-carbon fuels.”
Howe said there's always room for improvement and under the Green Marine program they're assessed every two years and the results are published on the Green Marine website.