Page 33 - Port of Baltimore March April 2013
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BY KATHY BERGREN SMITH
As conceptualized, WWL’s Castor Green Terminal would be a self-
contained, zero-emission, carbon-neutral facility.
MAT Terminal Manager Rod Pickens appreciates that WWL “sets goals
and then creates a plan to achieve them.”
WWL’s Mid-Atlantic Terminal (MAT) is located within the Dundalk
Marine Terminal on 62 acres. The facility specializes in heavy
equipment, roll-on/roll off (ro/ro), project and automobile cargoes.
WWL’s ships are already among the greenest ro/ro ships in
the world, and the company has conceptualized a revolutionary
zero-emissions car-carrier. Now the company has turned its
attention to its shoreside operations — the Castor Green Terminal
is WWL’s concept for a completely self-contained facility that is
zero-emission and carbon-neutral.
While Castor — named for a genus of beaver that is known
for its laborious and industrious lifestyle, and whose daily work
overlaps the traditional divide between land and water — is still
an idea, WWL is taking concrete steps toward making it a reality.
“This is one of the reasons I really enjoy working for WWL,”
said MAT Terminal Manager Rod Pickens. “WWL sets goals and
then creates a plan to achieve them. This is not just lip service to
an ideal, but real progress.”
Terminals within WWL’s global network are studying their
operations’ uses of land, water, energy and waste with the purpose
of creating a baseline from which to begin measuring their energy
and environmental reductions and dependencies.
“WWL has a worldwide platform across which to share best
practices with each of our partner terminals participating,” said
Mike Derby, General Manager for WWL’s North Atlantic operations.
He explains that the company has created a point system so that,
as a terminal implements a best practice, it accrues points toward
green goals. There are standardized best practices in place already,
but individual terminals are encouraged to innovate.
MAT has begun its transformation toward the Castor Green
Terminal concept by implementing several initiatives. Pickens
noted that the terminal’s fleet of vehicles is now electric rather
than gas-powered. There is also an electric forklift. These vehicles
are charged with the same amount of electricity that is generated
by the three pole-mounted tracking solar panels on the terminal.
Pickens is preparing to replace lighting in the warehouses with
high-efficiency LED lighting. Additionally, some 30 percent of the
storm drains on the terminal have been fitted with filters to catch
any pollutants before they are discharged into the Patapsco River
and Chesapeake Bay.
“We have an ambition here in Baltimore to be leaders within
the WWL network when it comes to environmental initiatives,”
said Derby.
Pickens believes that MAT will change the waterfront by
meeting the aims of WWL’s Castor Green Terminal standards in
the same way that the terminal has met the high standards of
customer service set at MAT’s inception. “We offer customers
advanced electronic tracking of their cargo, quick and organized
turnarounds and, most of all, a connection directly to the pier
whenever they need assistance,” Pickens said. “In this fast-paced
work environment, we work very closely with our customers to
provide a seamless logistics solution guided by our company’s
principles of providing quality and commitment to customers and
the environment.”
COURTESY OF MAT
March/April 2013
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The Port of Baltimore
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