Melbourne and Shanghai ports shake hands on green shipping corridor

Australia’s Port of Melbourne and China’s Port of Shanghai have joined forces to establish a green shipping corridor.

The ports formalized their partnership with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on October 19 in China, culminating from a nearly two-decade-long partnership between the Port of Melbourne and Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission (SMTC), which commenced in 2006.

The joint initiative, supported by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), will bring together Port of Melbourne and SMTC in response to the Clydebank Declaration and the broader decarbonization of the maritime supply chain.

As part of the agreement, the ports intend to:

• Collaborate with industry partners – including Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), COSCO SHIPPING Lines, HAMR Energy, and ABEL Energy – to explore avenues to implement measures to reduce the environmental impact of the shipping industry.
• Focus on environmentally sustainable practices, such as the adoption of cleaner technologies, use of renewable energy sources, and implementation of best practices to minimise the ecological footprint of shipping activities.
• Work closely with shipping lines seeking to promote the adoption of clean fuels, to increase the usage of clean-energy-powered ships operating between