TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE

MARITIME ACADEMY OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

CENTER FOR COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT
Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines - PTGWO-ITF
Kamaya Pt., Brgy. Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan

Increasing Air Pollution Produced

by Ships
A research presented to:

Mrs. Regina Grace Aroc Mendoza

By

4CL Last name, First name, Middle Initial

4CL

4CL

July 2021

I. INTRODUCTION

II. BODY
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
2

A. Review of Related Literature

Air Pollution Caused by Shipping Industry

The Shipping Industry has made the air dirty since then, from the use of coal as fuel to heat up

steam, up to now where oil is used as fuel. These two things used as fuels is called fossil fuels and as they

burn, they create gases which is harmful to the environment which is given term as emissions. According

to the article titled Emissions from Ships (James J. Corbett and Paul Fischbeck, 31 Oct 1997). “Global

annual nitrogen and sulfur emissions from ships are estimated to be 10.12 Tg (1012 grams) and 8.48 Tg,

respectively, showing that ship emissions represent more than 14 percent of nitrogen emissions from

global fuel combustion sources and more than 16 percent of sulfur emissions from world petroleum use.”

These amounts is considered a lot and they are very destructive to the atmosphere, especially the ozone

layer, which protects us from the UV rays of the sun.

Awareness of the Students Regarding the Issue

Though this concern is being taught to maritime students in their subjects, but still we should

know how deep is the understanding to the maritime students when it comes about the effects of their

desired career to the environment and how would they act in order to minimize or eliminate the

destruction to the environment. “One of the most urgent environmental problems facing the shipping

industry today is the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from its operations and the possible

cost-effective ways in which this reduction could be accomplished. Various technical and operational

measures have been proposed as well as market-based instruments for the achievement of the compliance

of marine industry with these measures. This paper investigates the levels of environmental awareness of

the Greek shipping companies and their views and practices on the proposed policies for the reduction of

GHG emissions from their ships. A survey was carried out using a questionnaire distributed to Greek

shipping companies of different sizes, involved in different segments of the marine industry, so that the

survey's results not only represent a large part of the Greek shipping industry but also reveal the different
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
3

environmental attitudes and practices on maritime GHG emissions among the shipping companies. Given

the size and the importance of the Greek shipping industry in the international maritime field, this paper's

results present a special significance as they could be further analyzed and taken into account for the

achievement of the compliance of marine industry with any future policy instrument for the reduction of

maritime GHG emissions.” Giziakis. & Christodoulou A., 2012.

Ship Emissions and their Externalities in Cruise Ports

“Taking into account that cruise vessels because of their high propulsion and hoteling energy

requirements are the most fuel demanding amongst all ship types (Howitt et al., 2010) and cruise

destinations by virtue of their natural and cultural attractiveness are highly sensitive to air pollution, the

assessment of ship emissions produced in ports of high cruise activity has attracted particular attention.

More specifically, cruise ship emissions in ports has been the focus of the work by Maragkogianni and

Papaefthimiou (2015) for five Greek ports evaluating the external costs of air pollution, Tichavska and

Tovar (2015b) for ferry and cruise vessel air pollution in Las Palmas Port, Poplawski et al. (2011) for the

impact of cruise ships in James Bay at Victoria, Canada, and finally by Tzannatos, 2010a, Tzannatos,

2010b for the emission inventories, externalities and control options associated with the cruise and ferry

operations within the main port of Piraeus.

The aforementioned research work generally covers the estimation of the ship emission inventories whilst

in port, the evaluation of their associated damage costs and the examination of their control through the

use of low-sulfur fuel, the installation of scrubbers or the provision of shore-side electricity. However,

with regard to ship emission control, it is important to note that the level of engine exhaust emissions is

primarily dependent upon the fuel consumption during the various phases of ship activity. This is

particularly important for cruise ships because as opposed to cargo vessels they need to constantly

produce adequate power to support the high demand for the provision of their onboard hoteling services

and whilst in port they opt for self-reliance in covering the power requirements for maneuvering, berthing
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
4

or anchoring in order to avoid the additional costs which an external assistance for such frequent

operations would incur. Ease of maneuvering, berthing or anchoring, as well as berth availability

influence the fuel consumption and hence the level of ship emissions whilst in port. Therefore, port traffic

vis-a-vis port basin features and facilities is a critical factor of ship exhaust emissions in cruise ports and

the need of further investigation on this issue is fully justified.

It is within this background of research interest, regulations and practices for controlling the ship

emissions in ports that Dubrovnik and Kotor are considered to be a suitable reference for conducting a

ship activity-based research on ship emissions in an effort to enrich the relevant knowledge and

experience beyond the issues addressed by the currently available research literature. More specifically, in

the current case, the ship activity-based approach is utilized to capture and analyze on a comparative basis

the influence of the ship operational factors in the two ports. Although by vitrue of their vicinity the ports

are exposed to similar cruise market characteristics within the Adriatic and Eastern Mediterranean region,

they have distinct port calling demand and port characteristics which can affect the emission inventories

and their externalities, as well as the control of the produced air pollution. In terms of the port importance,

the Adriatic hosts currently the second (after the West Med.) cruise market within the Mediterranean,

accounting for nearly 22% of all port calls (MedCruise, 2015). Dubrovnik is the third Mediterranean

cruise port in terms of calls (following Civitavecchia and Barcelona) and Kotor occupies the 13th place,

whereas they are the first and fourth busiest ports of call within the Adriatic–Ionian region, respectively.”

Dragović et al., 2018.

Emission Measurements and Impact Assessments

The pollution made by shipping industry into the air is obvious, thus making the people aware of

its effects and has been the catalyst to make actions to know how big the impact how can it be resolved.

“Environmental impact and air pollution from ships have received increasing attention the last decades.

Due to combustion characteristics of typical marine engines and a wide spread use of unrefined fuel, the
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
5

global fleet emits significant amounts of SO2, NOX and particles to air. Impact assessments and

information on emitted amounts are important inputs to decision-making in regulation development and

also for ship designers who aim at environmentally improved designs. In order to assess the impacts

caused by ship emissions to air, information on ships’ activities in an area or the corresponding fuel use is

essential. In combination with an emission factor that state the mass of an emitted pollutant related to

either the work produced by ship engines or the mass of combusted fuel, the total emitted mass of a

pollutant is established. Ship engines are diverse and the emission factors are insufficiently quantified for

certain operational modes and specific pollutants which makes assessments difficult. Measurements on-

board ships were thus conducted in order to determine emission characteristics during manoeuvring

periods and for engines operating on fuels of different qualities. The measurement studies comprised

three engines and focussed on emissions of particles and NOX. Elevated levels of numbers of small

particles (0.30-0.40µm) were observed during manoeuvring periods and from combustion of marine

distillate oils. Sizes <0.30µm were not covered by the study. The size distribution of particles is

potentially important in impact assessments since there are indications that fine and ultrafine particles are

associated with higher health risks than coarse particles. The particle mass was reduced by half from a

shift from a heavy fuel oil with 1.6% sulphur content to a marine gasoil with 0.03% sulphur. The results

from the impact assessments point in favour of the abatement technologies selective catalytic reduction

(SCR), shore side electricity (SSE) connection and the use of fuel with low sulphur content in a local and

regional cost benefit perspective. The SSE seemed beneficial also from a shipowner perspective. SCR

was also analysed in a life cycle perspective and it was concluded there were overall benefits from its use

for all impact categories except global warming.” Winnes and Hulda, 2010.

Actions to Minimize the Pollution

One of the ways in making an action to minimize the pollution in the air made by shipping

industry is to use air cleaning technology. “The shipping sector is a significant contributor to emissions

of air pollutants in marine and coastal regions. In order to achieve sustainable shipping, primarily through
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
6

new regulations and techniques, greater knowledge of dispersion and deposition of air pollutants is

required. Regional model calculations of the dispersion and concentration of sulfur, nitrogen, and

particulate matter, as well as deposition of oxidized sulfur and nitrogen from the international maritime

sector in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, have been made for the years 2011 to 2013. The contribution

from shipping is highest along shipping lanes and near large ports for concentration and dry deposition.

Sulfur is the most important pollutant coupled to shipping. The contribution of both SO2 concentration

and dry deposition of sulfur represented up to 80 % of the total in some regions. WHO guidelines for

annual concentrations were not trespassed for any analysed pollutant, other than PM2.5 in the

Netherlands, Belgium, and central Poland. However, due to the resolution of the numerical model, 50 km  

×  50 km, there may be higher concentrations locally close to intense shipping lanes. Wet deposition is

more spread and less sensitive to model resolution. The contribution of wet deposition of sulfur and

nitrogen from shipping was up to 30 % of the total wet deposition. Comparison of simulated to measured

concentration at two coastal stations close to shipping lanes showed some underestimations and missed

maximums, probably due to resolution of the model and underestimated ship emissions.

A change in regulation for maximum sulfur content in maritime fuel, in 2015 from 1 to 0.1 %, decreases

the atmospheric sulfur concentration and deposition significantly. However, due to costs related to

refining, the cleaning of exhausts through scrubbers has become a possible economic solution. Open-loop

scrubbers meet the air quality criteria but their consequences for the marine environment are largely

unknown. The resulting potential of future acidification in the Baltic Sea, both from atmospheric

deposition and from scrubber water along the shipping lanes, based on different assumptions about sulfur

content in fuel, scrubber usage, and increased shipping density has been assessed. The increase in

deposition for different shipping and scrubber scenarios differs for the basins in the Baltic Sea, with

highest potential of acidification in the southern basins with high traffic. The proportion of ocean-

acidifying sulfur from ships increases when taking scrubber water into account and the major reason for

increasing acidifying nitrogen from ships is increasing ship traffic. Also, with the implementation of
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
7

emission control for nitrogen, the effect of scrubbers on acidification is evident. This study also generates

a database of shipping and scrubber scenarios for atmospheric deposition and scrubber exhaust from the

period 2011 to 2050.” Claremar et al., 2017

References

 Corbett and Fischbeck, Paul. 1997. “Emissions from Ships” Summary

Vol. 278, Issue 5339, pp. 823-824

 Giziakis and Christodoulou, Anastasia. 2012. “Environmental Awareness and

Practice Concerning Maritime Air Emissions: The Case of the Greek Shipping
Industry”, pp. 353 – 368

 Dragović et al., 2018. “Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment”

Ship emissions and their externalities in cruise ports, pp. 289-300

 Winnes and Hulda, 2010. “Air Pollution from Ships: Emission Measurements and
Impact Assessments”, pp. 82

 Claremar et al., 2017. “Ship Emissions and the Use of Current Air Cleaning
Technology: Contributions to Air Pollution and Acidification in the Baltic Sea”
https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/8/901/2017/

B. Methodology
TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
8

Respondents and Setting of the Study

Instrumentation and Validation

TITLE OF YOUR STUDY HERE
9

Statistical Treatment of Data

C. Results

III. CONCLUSION

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS

References