With support from the EPA, CLF teamed up with 41° North Offshore in New Bendford to swap their diesel engines for clean ones – makin the air around the port cleaner for everyone. Photo: 41° North Offshore, LLC
Every day, tugboats and fishing vessels crisscross New Bedford Harbor – a bustling port that has been the heart of Massachusetts’ maritime economy for generations. This marine traffic is integral to the region: The Port of New Bedford is America’s number one fishing port and a major hub for shipping and local industry, making it a critical part of the community’s livelihood.
However, all this harbor activity comes with a downside. Many of the city’s tugboats and ships still rely on diesel engines that can run for 30 years or more. These older engines lack modern emissions controls and pump harmful pollution into the air. Replacing them with cleaner models is the obvious solution, but new engines are expensive to buy and install – often putting upgrades out of reach for small maritime businesses.
Through a partnership with the EPA, CLF has found a way to help small businesses run cleaner vessels. We’ve leveraged an innovative funding tool – the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program – which provides grants for projects that cut pollution from existing diesel engines. With support from DERA, CLF has teamed up with maritime companies to swap out dirty engines for cleaner ones. Our latest project in New Bedford will help make the air around the port cleaner for everyone.
Creative Funding Solutions to Reduce Emissions
In 2018, EPA awarded CLF a DERA grant to partner with 41° North Offshore, LLC – a tugboat operator based in New Bedford. The company provides marine towing and dredge support services, moving barges and assisting large ships as they dock in New Bedford Harbor, Buzzards Bay, and Narragansett Bay.
Thanks to the grant, CLF and 41° North Offshore replaced outdated diesel engines on two of the company’s tugboats – the Grizzly and the SITKA – with new models that meet stricter EPA emissions standards. The total cost of replacing these engines was about $691,000. The EPA’s grant covered $316,539, and 41° North Offshore picked up roughly $374,000. This cost-sharing approach made an otherwise prohibitively expensive upgrade feasible for the local business.
However, executing the plan wasn’t entirely smooth sailing. The project kicked off just before the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused significant delays. Global supply chain disruptions and work stoppages slowed the delivery and installation of the new engines. The team pivoted from the original project design, switching to different vessels – the Grizzly and SITKA. Despite the setbacks, the cleaner engines were eventually installed – a testament to the partners’ dedication to the project.
Cleaner Engines Mean Better Air Quality, Better Health
This New Bedford initiative builds on CLF’s track record of finding practical, market-based solutions to environmental challenges. Swapping out old diesel engines for cleaner ones helps vessels run more efficiently, significantly extends their life, and provides an economic boost to their owners.
Most importantly, the new engines drastically cut harmful exhaust emissions. As a result, the upgraded tugboats now emit far less nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter – two pollutants known to aggravate asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Cutting these pollutants means cleaner, healthier air for New Bedford’s residents. It also means less smog and acid rain, which is good for the region’s crops, forests, and coastal waters.
According to EPA calculations, these upgrades will eliminate an estimated 16.1 tons of nitrogen oxides and 1.2 tons of particulate matter pollution from New Bedford’s air in the coming years. In fact, by the EPA’s estimates, reducing this pollution will save about $170,000 in health costs each year by preventing asthma attacks, hospital visits, and other diesel-related illnesses. That means the health benefits from this project will pay for the EPA’s investment in under two years. And with these tugboats likely to operate for decades, those benefits will keep adding up far into the future.
Public-Private Partnership Is a Win-Win for Economy and Environment
The success of the New Bedford tugboat project shows what’s possible when public and private partners work together toward a common goal. CLF, the EPA, and 41° North Offshore combined their resources to tackle an environmental challenge that no single player could solve alone.
Replacing old marine engines with cleaner technology took creative funding and teamwork, and the result is a win-win for the community, the environment, and the economy. The tugboat operator now has more efficient vessels and lower operating costs, while the community gains cleaner air and improved public health.
This EPA-supported project in New Bedford is one of eight diesel upgrade projects CLF has supported through DERA since 2011 – and it is part of CLF’s commitment to promoting clean air and healthy communities across New England. Through this work, CLF has helped replace 52 diesel engines on 17 vessels, solutions that benefit both people and businesses and show that economic growth and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand. This approach will help keep our port cities thriving and our air clean for generations to come.
