Harley Marine Services of Seattle, Harvey Gulf International Marine of New Orleans and Port of Seattle Win Top Honors at WorkBoat Environmental Awards During International WorkBoat Show

NEW ORLEANS, LA, December 06, 2012 (Press-News.org) Harley Marine Services of Seattle, Harvey Gulf International Marine and the Port of Seattle took top honors during the 2012 WorkBoat Environmental Award ceremonies at the 33rd International WorkBoat Show, North America's largest commercial marine trade show and conference.

"The quality of these applications was amazing and each of the winners had a compelling story to tell about innovative environmental management practices," commented Bruce Buls, WorkBoat magazine technical editor and one of the award judges.

Harley Marine won a Comprehensive Environmental Management Plan Award, while Harvey Gulf won for Outstanding Environmental Initiative. The Port of Seattle's Marine Maintenance Department received a Judges Special Recognition Award.

The Fifth Annual WorkBoat Environmental Award recognizes businesses and government agencies that operate in the U.S. maritime industry that have successfully incorporated environmentally sustainable practices into their operations.

Harley Marine: Comprhensive Environmental Management Plan Award
Buls noted that the judges were impressed with Harley Marine's overall corporate commitment to sustatainability. "Harley is an ISO 14001 Certificed Company," Buls said. "This certification helps a company improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and drive down costs. Using ISO 14001, a company can provide assurance to company management and employees as well as external stakeholders that environmental impact is being measured and improved."

Through this program, Harley has reduced paper consumption by 37%, its air quality initiative will prevent 400 tons of NOx and 13 tons of particulate matter from entering the atmosphere annually and its practices have prevented 2,880 tons of Volatile Organic Compounds from being emitted.

Harley's application stated, "Our robust, multi-faceted plan takes into account our impact on air and water quality. We analyze all aspects of our supply chain and work to eliminate waste wherever possible. Our consumption habits are changing as we concentrate on reduction, reuse and recycling. We reduce energy consumption through a variety of methods; from concentrating our operations, to installing shore power.

Harley also won a WorkBoat Environmental Award in 2010 for an Environmental Initiative.

Harvey Gulf: Outstanding Environmental Initiative Award
"Harvey has taken the lead in the industry by constructing a series of three diesel electric OSVs that meet ABS ENVIRO+, Green Passport (GP) notation requirements," Buls said. "These vessels exceed current environmental requirements and follow strict company policies, thus helping to further reduce air and water pollution. The vessels were also constructed with environmentally friendly materials that can be completely recycled or broken down without harm to the environment where possible."

Harvey's application indicted he following are examples of ways the vessels operate above and beyond regulations: (1) Bilge water is not discharged to sea unless the oil content of the effluent is below 5ppm. USCG regulations allow effluent with an oil content of 15 ppm. (2) The only type of garbage that is discharged to sea is grinded food. Current regulations allow most types of garbage to be discharged with the exception of plastics. (3) The vessels have the capability of treating gray water as well as sewage. Treatment units for gray water and sewage are not required per USCG regulations. (4) The diesel electric engines optimize fuel consumption due to an improved engine power configuration. This type of engine is not required per regulations. (5) Fuel with a sulfur content of 15 ppm is purchased to reduce air emissions while fuel with a sulfur content of 10,000 ppm is allowed per regulations. (6) A designated and trained Environmental Officer is onboard at all times to ensure compliance which is also not required per regulations. (7) Vessels are constructed with environmentally friendly materials where possible to in order to reduce pollution at the end of the ships life cycle. This is also not required per USCG regulations. (8) The vessel's pilot house was constructed to ensure that crewmembers can safely move around and operate the vessel efficiently to avoid incidents that would result in environmental spills."

Port of Seattle's Marine Maintenance Department: Judges Special Recognition Award
"The Port came up with an ingenious way to clean and capture water and sediment from docks that are up to 1,000 feet long and only a few wide," Buls said. "By using a waste water capturing method they created, the Port is able to recover over 500 gallons of polluted water per day."

The Port's application indicated, "As a Phase I NPDES Stormwater Permit Holder, we were aware that the standard practice of dock cleaning did not meet the current mandates. We had to find an alternative method of cleaning our docks without disturbing the water or marine life. After extensive research, it was apparent there were no processes or equipment designed for this activity. The ultimate solution is a manually operated scrubber unit that we created. The scrubber has a vacuum port attached to 1,000 feet of vacuum tubing, connected to an industrial vacuum truck that is capable of supplying constant suction and with a large enough holding tank to capture the water and sediments."

The Port's invention is highlighted in the Washington Department of Ecology website for Stormwater Guidance videos: www.ECY.wa.gov/programs/wq/stormwater/industrial/guidance.html.

The Port of Seattle received an honorable mention award in 2010.

"These Awards are an outstanding way to showcase leading maritime businesses and government agencies and the incredible variety of innovative environmental practices in the industry," said Buls.

This year's judges include: Sarah Branch, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Offshore Marine Service Association; Bruce Buls, Technical Editor, WorkBoat Magazine; Laurie Counsel, Energy and Environmental Relations Director, Cummins Inc.; Peter Lauridsen, Regulatory Affairs Consultant, Passenger Vessel Association; David Santos, Commercial Craft Segment Manager, ZF Marine LLC; and, Christina Villiott, Director of Marketing, Elliott Bay Design Group.

Past WorkBoat Environmental Award Winners are:

2011
Comprehensive Environmental Management Plan
1st Place: Port of San Diego
Judges Special Recognition: Pacific Whale Foundation

Outstanding Environmental Initiative
1st Place: AEP River Operations
2nd Place: MetalCraft Marine
3rd Place: Southern Towing

2010
Comprehensive Environmental Management Plan
1st Place: Cummins Inc.
2nd Place: Crowley Maritime Corp.
3rd Place: Todd Pacific Shipyard Corp.
Judges Special Recognition: Chase Cabinet Makers Inc.

Outstanding Environmental Initiative
1st Place: Harley Marine Services
2nd Place: Norfolk Tug Company/James River Barge Line Ltd.
3rd Place: Crescent Towing
Judges Special Recognition: C.I. Agent Solutions LLC

2009
Comprehensive Environmental Management Plan
First Place: Foss Maritime Company
Second Place: Crowley Maritime Corporation
Third Place: Harley Marine Services

Outstanding Environmental Initiative
First Place: Alcatraz Cruises, LLC
Second Place: Foss Maritime Company
Third Place: McGinnis, Inc.

2008 Award Winners
First Place: RiverQuest
Honorable Mentions: Port of Seattle, Crowley Maritime Services and Yankee Roamer

"These award winners clearly show sustainability practices yield bottom-line results and tremendous overall benefits to our communities," commented Buls.

To view a video with Buls discussing the WorkBoat Environmental Award, visit
http://www.workboat.com/enviro_award/.

A record 14,000 visitors and exhibitors from 45 states and 27 countries are attending the WorkBoat Show. The Show features over 1,100 exhibitors, the Fourth Annual WorkBoat Executive Summit, WorkBoat Professional Series and the Seventh Annual Shipyard Day. Tradeshow Week ranks the WorkBoat Show as one of the Top 200 largest U.S. trade shows.

The International WorkBoat show is produced by Diversified Business Communications. For more information, please visit www.WorkBoatShow.com.

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International WorkBoat Show
The International WorkBoat Show is North America's largest maritime trade show and conference. For 33 years, the WorkBoat Show has proven to be the premier marketplace for businesses working on the coastal, inland and offshore waters.

The International WorkBoat show is produced by Diversified Business Communications.