Port Everglades recently won three prestigious national awards of excellence for leading the way in port sustainability practices., according to a press release.

They are the National Association of Environmental Professionals’ (NAEP) 2020 Environmental Excellence Award, the North American Marine Environment Protection Association’s (NAMEPA) 2020 Marine Environment Protection Award for Ports, and the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 2020 Award of Excellence for the Port Everglades Comprehensive Environmental Management Program.

“Port Everglades consistently integrates the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability into our core business strategy,” said Jonathan Daniels, Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director. “We are leading the way in port sustainability practices and putting the Port on the environmental map by giving our attention to a diverse set of air, land, sea, and wildlife concerns simultaneously.”

The goals and objectives of the Port Everglades Comprehensive Environmental Management Program were not only to successfully meet compliance requirements, but to voluntarily implement stewardship initiatives that benefit the environment, according to a press release.

 Port Everglades initiatives include:

• Establishing a formal internship program to provide relevant on-the-job training and work experience for local university environmental students. Nine interns have completed the program over the past three years.
•  Voluntarily joining the Green Marine in 2013, an environmental certification program that offers a detailed framework for maritime companies and port authorities to first establish and then reduce their environmental footprint and by demonstrating year-over-year improvements in measurable ways to maintain their status. Port Everglades earned perfect scores in four of six environmental categories and near perfect scores in the other two for 2019.
•  All new buildings constructed at Port Everglades are designed to be U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
•  Retrofitting diesel service trucks, forklifts, and boat engines with energy-efficient clean technology engines and maintaining a fleet of hybrid and electric pool vehicles.
•  Collaborating with Florida Atlantic University and the University of Illinois Critical Infrastructure Institute to independently conduct resiliency studies of port operations, funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and installing an integrated system of sensors that provide commercial vessel operators with accurate and reliable real-time information about port environmental conditions.
•  Committing to optimizing habitat value for the many species of wildlife in the Port’s green spaces in its 2018-2022 five-year business plan.