By Gwendolyn Wu
Diesel emissions have fallen 81 percent since 2005 at the Port of Oakland, port officials announced Thursday.
The new figure indicates that the port is closing in on its 2008 plan to reduce pollution impacts on nearby neighborhoods and diesel emissions by 85 percent by 2020.
“It’s a high priority of the port to minimize the impact of global trade on the community,” said Port of Oakland communications director Mike Zampa.
The exhaust from ships and trucks moving through the hub is a major contributor to pollution in the area, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which oversees regional air quality.
Diesel dust can trigger respiratory illnesses in the immediate area, affecting many West Oakland residents.
The Port of Oakland is a rare example of a port that’s right across from a residential neighborhood, Zampa said.
A 2008 study by the state’s Air Resources Board found that West Oakland residents were exposed to almost three times the diesel particulates that other Bay Area residents experienced on average.
A decade later, emissions are down, but health problems persist.
“While we’re encouraged, the bottom line is that the health risk isn’t coming down in West Oakland as quickly as it needs to,” said Damian Breen, a deputy air pollution control officer at the air district.
Consolidating cargo onto fewer vessels has helped. In July, officials estimated that approximately 1,500 vessels moved through the Port of Oakland each year.
And while officials say that more cargo is coming through the hub, truck traffic is also down by over half a million trips a year.
Requiring ships and trucks to use cleaner-burning, low-sulfur fuel has helped reduce diesel pollution. Over $35 million in grant funding from the air district has gone toward helping truckers who come through the port replace old vehicles with trucks using the new fuel.
Money has also gone toward infrastructure that allows ships to plug into electric power and turn off their engines while offloading cargo.
What needs to happen, Breen said, is better enforcement in asking ships to plug in, and better maintenance of equipment at the port.
A clean air plan proposed by the Port of Oakland at the end of June outlines plans for infrastructure that would help the port reach zero emissions in the decades to come.
The only hindrance, according to Zampa, is a lack of funding and technology to make it happen.
Gwendolyn Wu is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @gwendolynawu