The Port Authority approved a three-year extension to the Ocean-Going Clean Vessel Incentive Program funded at $3.12 million on November 19, 2015.

Launched in 2013, the program encourages operators of ocean-going vessels to improve their engines, use cleaner fuels, and upgrade their technologies to reduce emissions, which are the largest source of air pollutants at the Port of New York and New Jersey. The extension will allow the program to operate through 2018, and continues the agency’s overall commitment to good environmental stewardship

Based on a forecast participation rate of more than 2,600 total vessel calls, the program’s extension is expected to provide emission reductions of 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 210 tons of nitrogen oxides, 10 tons of particulate matter, and 3 tons of sulfur oxides. Reductions of this quantity are the equivalent of taking 23,000 cars off the road.

The program will continue to build on the port’s broad portfolio of environmental strategies. Thus far, these strategies have reduced port-related air emissions by an average of 33 percent across all pollutants between 2006 and 2013. Notably, this reduction was gained despite a 7-percent increase in cargo volumes over the same period.