The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) – the unified and recognized voice of Western Hemisphere seaports – today announced the winning entries into its 2018 Environmental Improvement and Information Technology awards competitions. 

Winners in the 2018 Environmental Improvement Awards competition will be honored at AAPA’s 2018 Energy and Environment Seminar in Jersey, City, NJ, on Sept. 12. The winner of the 2018 Information Technology Awards program will be honored at AAPA’s Information Technology Committee meeting (attendance limited to AAPA IT Committee members) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Sept. 26.
AAPA’s Information Technology Awards program, which began in 2002, highlights port technology accomplishments in the areas of Port Operations and Management Systems and in Improvements in Intermodal Freight Transportation.  This year’s IT Awards program winner in the Port Operations and Management Systems category is the Halifax Port Authority for its submission, Port Operations Centre.
Since 1973, AAPA’s Environmental Improvement Awards program has recognized activities which benefit the environment at its member ports. This year’s awards program had winners in all four project entry categories: 1) Environmental Enhancement; 2) Mitigation; 3) Comprehensive Environmental Management; and 4) Stakeholder Education, Awareness and Involvement.
The winner in the 2018 Environmental Improvement Awards’ Environmental Enhancement category is the Port of San Diego for its entry, Threatened and Endangered Species Stewardship Program. This year’s Mitigation category winner also goes to the Port of San Diego for its successful project, Marine Debris Removal Project.  Another Southern California port authority, the Port of Hueneme, is this year’s Comprehensive Environmental Program category winner for its entry, Environmental Certification. Garnering its third 2018 Environmental Improvement competition award, this time in the Stakeholder Education, Awareness and Involvement category, is again the Port of San Diego, for its entry, Environmental Education Program.
“We appreciate every entrant and congratulate every winner in this year’s AAPA awards programs—Environmental Improvement, Information Technology, and Communications – for investing the time to prepare their entries, get peer review from the judges, share their work, and highlight best practices and lessons learned in their respective competitions,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA president and CEO. “When port authorities work with their many stakeholders, including their communities, business leaders and policymakers, to develop projects like the ones entered into these competitions, they’re better able to demonstrate their tremendous value as drivers of economic development, environmental enhancement and job creation.”
The award-winning entries in both the 2018 Environmental Improvement and Information Technology competitions, together with the 25 ports that submitted successful entries in AAPA’s 2018 Communications Awards Program (for which winners were announced in a June 5 news release), are posted on the AAPA website.