The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced it has been awarded a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grant. The $250,000 award will retrofit GPA-owned equipment with devices that reduce air emissions.

"As an integral part of GPA's ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship, reducing consumption and emissions is a top priority," said GPA's Executive Director Doug J. Marchand.

The engine exhaust enhancements will include diesel oxidation catalysts and crankcase filtration systems installed on 80 units of GPA's container handling equipment. "These equipment upgrades will reduce diesel emissions by 25%," said GPA's Director of Engineering and Maintenance Wilson Tillotson. "Further, the retrofits along with GPA's recent switch to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel will decrease emissions by a total of 34% for this equipment."

In June, GPA voluntarily converted its fleet of yard cranes, trucks and other container handling equipment to cleaner burning ULSD fuel, which was two and a half years prior to the Federal requirement. Emissions have also been reduced by electrifying GPA's fleet of ship-to-shore cranes and installing electric racks for handling refrigerated containers. "These actions to incorporate the use of electricity into field operations will conserve more than two million gallons of diesel fuel annually," said Marchand.