Cargo Ship Design and the Environment

Answer

Cargo Ship Design and the Environment

Introduction

Sensitivities surrounding environmental protection and sustainability, economic turbulence and the need for safety necessitate the need for designing ships that can respond to and address these concerns. As of 2018, maritime transportation consists of over 5,000 ports and more than 50,000 merchant ships that support approximately 92% of the world economy and trade. Major port sites are concentrated along the shores of Asia, Europe, South America and North Africa. This high number of merchant ships and global distribution of ports implies that maritime industry is one of the leading sources of environmental pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, direct greenhouse gases (GHG), ozone and nitrogen oxides. In 2014 for instance, the third IMO GHG study established that international shipping contributed approximately 2.8% of global carbon dioxide and 15% of global nitrogen oxide emissions between 2012 and 2014 (Bouman et al. 2017). These findings support other statistics on implications of shipping operations, and thus suggest the need for future ships to feature technologies that address issues of pollutants emissions and safety. This paper is an analysis of the environmental impacts related to international shipping with particular emphasis on the need to design ships with green technologies that minimize such impacts, while promoting sustainable economic growth.

Impact of Maritime Industry in Environmental Pollution

Today’s economic growth and international trade agreements have seen tremendous increase in ship transportation to facilitate movement of cargo and people across continents. This proliferation of global shipping operations has not been without negative impacts on the environment, especially the aquatic and air environments. For example, a 2014 study by the IMO GHG found that maritime transportation accounts for approximately 25% atmospheric emissions with about 2.8% carbon iv oxide, 15% nitrogen oxide and other pollutants. Major sources of these pollutants in shipping operations include harbor and oceangoing vessels, equipment for handling cargo, and other sea vehicles and locomotives. In some countries such as Middle East and North America, however, part traffic has significant contribution to port traffic. Other findings of the study are as summarized in table 1 below.    

Table 1: Contribution of Maritime Transport to Global Atmospheric Emissions (IMO GHG Study 2014).

Environmental pollution from shipping operations is not limited to emissions. It also results from oil spills and fires caused by ship accidents. For instance, Maersk Honam, one of Maersk’s line of cargo ships involved in a fire accident in March 2018 that claimed lives of five crew members aboard and destroyed part of the goods in transit (Eliopoulou et al. 2016; Schuler 2018). Additionally, the fire emitted tons of flue gases in the atmosphere and caused oil spillage that polluted both the aquatic and air environment (Shipping and Freight Resource 2018). Other environmental pollution from ships occur in the form of noise emissions that cause noise pollution.

                        Figure 1: Atmospheric Emission and Oil Spillage from Maersk Fire                                                            Accident in the Arabian Sea (Schuler 2018)

Green Technology for Vessels

Flue gas emissions and other pollutants from international shipping operations are projected to increase by approximately 95% if left uncontrolled. These emissions and pollutants are undesirable as they can lead to various long-term impacts including ocean acidification, poor human health, economic downturn and ocean acidification. As such, there is need for future ship designs to include technologies and automation systems that respond to these issues and other concerns in the maritime industry. The future ship design with green technologies should, therefore, consider such prevention measures as lower-emitting and high efficiency propulsion systems, clean fuel sources (electric energy) and speed reduction systems (Liu et al. 2015). Other considerations should include onshore power supply, emission control technologies (such as carbon captures and stores after treatment of exhaust gases) and efficiency of the ship’s overall structure, hull and machinery.

Since environmental pollution in the maritime industry is caused by both exhaust gas emissions and unintended accidents, technologies for future seagoing vessels should focus on addressing both fuel-related emissions and safety. Regarding emissions, future ships should be equipped with advanced technologies capable of treating exhaust gases then capturing and storing resulting carbon. According NAP.edu (2017), the stored carbon can then be recycling and used for other applications such as in making of dry cells. However, shipping manufacturers can avoid the need for exhaust gas treatment systems by following the bandwagon of electric-powered propulsion engines witnessed in the automobile industry. As cleaner energy sources, such systems will have almost zero emissions, and thereby, contribute to environmental protection and conservation efforts.

On the other hand, according to Kim et al. (2001) and Kristiansen (2013), vessel design to mitigate accidents and enhance safety should look at such factors as cargo handling or transfer system, mooring system, hull, fender system and navigation. Considering all these factors, an appropriate future vessel design should include a double hull system, a strong mooring system to keep the ship together and a well-designed fender system for protecting the entire vessel. Moreover, a reliable and effective cargo handling system comprised of well-maintained hoses will be essential in future ship design. 

Autonomous Shipping

Many automakers are increasingly producing autonomous vehicles to reduce accidents by allowing vehicles to self-drive when drivers get tired or their vehicles malfunction during driving. Future ship manufacturers should follow suite and design autonomous ships. This will reduce emissions and oil spillage related to accidents by helping captains and the rest of the onboard crew in route selection and monitoring of weather and sailing conditions. Furthermore, autonomous shipping will provide sailors with opportunities to detect faults in a timely manner and take proactive actions to counteract potential accidents that could lead to environmental pollutions or risk the safety of passengers and shipment (Shipping and Freight Resource 2018). 

Economic Necessity to Build an Efficient Modern Ship.

            While environmental sustainability and safety concerns underpin the need to design a modern ship with the aforementioned technical features, economic concerns also play a vital in building such a ship. First, a ship that puts environmental interests at the forefront will promote sustainable development. This implies that shipping operations with such ships will not only seek to achieve economic objectives of present generations, but will also aim at helping future generations meet their needs. Second, ships with minimal or no emissions will reduce ocean acidification, thereby, increasing lifespan of other oceangoing vessels by minimizing effects of corrosion. Additionally, ship design that focuses on safety of both the ship and the shipment will improve the economic performance for both ship owners and customers by eliminating losses related to unnecessary accidents (Lois et al. 2004; Wieslaw and Tarelko 2008). Lastly, ships with autonomous technologies will reduce the overall operation and maintenance costs by reducing crew size and the number of operators. More importantly, it will allow for earlier detection of faults so that that technical can take appropriate actions before the faults escalate to accidents.            

Conclusion

Maritime industry is one of the leading sources of environmental pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, direct greenhouse gases (GHG), ozone and nitrogen oxides. Sensitivities surrounding sustainability and protection of the environment, economic turbulence and the need for safety necessitate the need for designing ships that can respond to and address these concerns. Major sources of these pollutants in shipping operations include harbor and oceangoing vessels, equipment for handling cargo, and other sea vehicles and locomotives. The future ship design with green technologies should, therefore, consider such prevention measures as lower-emitting and high efficiency propulsion systems, clean fuel sources, speed reduction systems, onshore power supply, emission control technologies and efficiency and effectiveness of the ship’s overall structure, hull and machinery. Additionally, technologies for future seagoing vessels should focus on addressing both fuel-related emissions and safety because environmental pollutants from shipping operations are caused by both exhaust gas emissions and accidents arising from safety issues. Future ship manufacturers should also include autonomous technologies in their designs in order to help captains and the rest of the onboard crew to select appropriate routes and monitor weather and sailing conditions.