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The Port of Long Beach, Calif., recently released a study that shows its clean-air efforts the past few years have been paying off, port officials said in a prepared statement.

The port has logged four straight years of air quality improvements by working to “significantly reduce” emissions from the ships, trucks, locomotives, forklifts, tugboats and other equipment, they said.

From 2005 to 2010, the port cut diesel particulate sulfur oxide emissions by 73 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 46 percent and greenhouse-gas emissions by 18 percent, the study shows. The study's results were reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The use of lower-sulfur, cleaner fuels by all waterfront equipment and the continued phasing out of old trucks contributed the most to air quality improvements, port officials said. An ongoing changeover of yard equipment and the Pacific Harbor Line Inc.’s new locomotive fleet also played roles, they said.

"We’re seeing the benefits of … the entire goods movement industry to reduce air pollution and to be better neighbors to the community," said Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners President Susan Anderson Wise. “We are continually exploring new practices and technologies to improve air quality in the harbor to benefit the entire region.”