Shipping News
International shipping may be one of the largest sources of air pollutants along the Norwegian coast and in the Northern Atlantic, forming ground-level ozone and acidifying shorelines, according to Norwegian researchers.
Air pollution from ships is of significant importance in many regions says Stig Dalsøren at the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo. In high traffic areas, emissions may affect the climate and pollution levels just as much or even more than other forms of emissions. The atmospheric impacts were calculated based on new emission inventories in research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Distribution of international shipping traffic in 2000 based on reported data.
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Shipping emissions have been one of the fastest growing emission sectors in the last decades," Dalsøren says. Many tankers, cargo ships, and other vessels use so-called bunker oil as fuel, which contains large amounts of sulfur while the use of slow-speed engines also results in relatively high emissions of nitrogen oxides. Annex VI of MARPOL 73/78 (the international Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) [International Maritime Organisation (IMO) 1998]. Regulating emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, and other compounds from ships is now out for ratification.
Despite increasing awareness of the amounts emitted and the environmental impact, the emissions from ships in international trade are not included in the Kyoto Protocol, the researchers add.
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International shipping may not be an environmentally benign form of transportation.
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Emissions form many different gases in the atmosphere, like ozone, a greenhouse gas, which at high concentrations also is hazardous to health, agriculture, and vegetation. Additionally, there is sulfate, found in acid rain, which also affects the climate, Dalsøren explains. Their new model approach, which quantifies emissions, traffic patterns, impacts on air pollutants, and climate forcing will allow the international community to look more closely at the problem.
International Maritime Organisation (IMO), ANNEX VI of MARPOL 73/78, Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships and NOx Technical Code, 1998.
J. Geophys. Res., 108(D17), 4560, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002898
