THE port of Long Beach has welcomed the cleanest containership to travel to the US, the 14,436-TEU MSC Jewel, at Total Terminals International's Pier T facility. The vessel, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), is 1,200 feet long and was built in 2019. It is powered by tier III diesel engines, which are 75 per cent cleaner than the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) tier II standard, a statement from port authorities said. "Tier III ships just started entering the global fleet. The Clean Air Action Plan Update we passed two years ago identified strategies to accelerate the timeline by which we would start to see these cleaner ships calling at our port," Long Beach Harbour Commission president Tracy Egoscue was quoted as saying in a report by Signal Tribune newspaper online. All MSC vessels that visit California ports are shore-power equipped, enabling them to connect to the landside electrical grid to reduce emissions when berthed. Shipping lines can also utilise one of the multiple environment-based incentive programmes set up by the port to encourage 'greener' operations. As a result of the MSC Jewel's visit, the carrier will receive US$6,000 from the port of Long Beach's Green Ship Incentive Programme that rewards vessel operators that deploy environmentally friendly ships and expand the future use of green ships.