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ship-based pollution
Ship-based pollution, including anything that enters the ocean from a ship during regular operations, be it sewage, rubbish, bilge water, engine waste or oil, or anything which is accidentally introduced when vessels are involved in a collision, lose cargo during a storm or run aground (including oil, chemicals, cargo and even the ship itself) makes up about 20% of ocean pollution. Oil spills are often thought to make up a large part of this pollution but although they make the headlines, oil spills account for just 12% of the oil that enters the ocean: most ship-based oil pollution comes from daily operations and accidental leakage from pipelines.
In combatting ship-sourced pollution, whether accidental or intentional, the size of the world fleet is the first challenge: thousands of container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, ferries, cruise ships and fishing vessels cross the ocean every day. The sheer size of the ocean is another factor: the further the ship moves away from land and the jurisdiction of a coastal State, the more difficult it becomes to monitor. The very nature of the ocean environment and conditions in which these vessels operate (perhaps the most dangerous and unpredictable of any) also means that accidents and the ensuing pollution are often unavoidable. Add to this the difficulty of establishing a regulatory framework on the shipping industry, imposing strict standards and controls at levels accepted uniformly around the world and you begin to appreciate the challenge posed in preventing marine pollution from ships.
How is it regulated?
This is where the UN's shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), comes into play, established to provide a forum for State cooperation in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical matters affecting shipping engaged in international trade; to encourage and facilitate the general adoption of the highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships.
The IMO is responsible for establishing global standards for the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping. Its main role is to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair and effective, universally adopted and universally implemented. In accordance with IMO regulations, a ship's flag State (the State in which the vessel is registred) is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. For information on flag State jurisdiction see here.
Since its first meetings in 1958, the IMO has developed a collection of key agreements and conventions addressing safety, security, pollution, the ship/port interface, liability and compensation and salvage. In terms of pollution, strict controls have been put into place by the IMO, in particular through the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (known as MARPOL) and its annexes. Each of its six annexes addresses a different type of pollution - oil, noxious liquid substances, harmful substances in packaged form, sewage, garbage and air pollution and these are developed and amended as necessary, with the latest amendments addressing ballast water, heavy fuel and carbon emissions. The convention and its annexes have significantly reduced the amount of pollution caused by regular shipping operations since its entry into force in 1983.
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Operational waste
So-called ‘operational’ pollution is impossible to avoid: sewage, waste materials (such as batteries, food waste, plastics and chemicals), bilge water (produced during the cleaning of machine and engine spaces, this water accumulates at the lowest point of a ship’s hull and is a mixture of seawater, fuel oil, lubricating oil, debris/detritus, chemicals and sewage) and engine waste are a daily product of the shipping industry. In the past this was simply offloaded while ships were underway but with the development of MARPOL, a strong regulatory framework has been put into place, recognizing that operational waste cannot be eliminated but it can be collected and managed, both on board and in ports.
MARPOL allows for a limited discharge of specific waste materials in certain locations (over 50 nautical miles from a coastline and not in protected areas), but generally ships are expected to store waste in tanks onboard and dispose of it in in port - and for this port reception facilities are key. If adequate facilities are not readily available discharges of oil and waste materials will continue to be made at sea despite MARPOL’s regulations (it is still cheaper, quicker and easier to dump waste rather than collect it and offload it in port). In accordance with MARPOL, waste reception and disposal facilities should be provided by ports for the disposal of oily waste, ship-generated wastewater, chemicals and solid waste. MARPOL encourages ports to develop Waste Management Plans in the form of guidelines setting out the procedure for collecting, storing, processing, and disposing of waste.
Improved satellite monitoring is becoming a useful deterrant and the detection of purposeful pollution is getting easier. Services like the European CleanSeaNet service use satellite images to provide coverage of maritime areas: irrespective of time of day or weather conditions, data from satellites can pinpoint the location and size of the pollution and provide supporting information on the potential source of the spill.
Information about the impacts of operational waste from the marine shipping industry – including the types of waste ships produce, how these wastes can be harmful, and where and how wastes are disposed of – are highlighted on the Clear Seas Ship Waste Management web pages.
Emissions
Emissions from the shipping industry account for at least 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 8% of sulphur dioxide emissions. In fact, if the shipping industry were a country it would be rated sixth in terms of emissions (the 16 biggest ships alone produce more pollution than all the cars in the world). Shipping emissions are particularly harmful because they generally result from the burning of heavy, pollutant-ridden fuels that are either banned or subject to strict regulation onshore because of their toxic effects. Compared to other forms of transportation, international shipping is still the most energy efficient of all but the implementation of a more effective emission control is imperative.
Acccording to the IMO website, the issue of emissions first arose at the IMO in 1997, when the MAROPOL COP invited the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to consider what CO2 reduction strategies might be feasible in light of the relationship between CO2 and other atmospheric and marine pollutants. The resolution also invited IMO, in cooperation with the UNFCCC, to undertake a study of CO2 emissions from ships for the purpose of establishing the amount and relative percentage of CO2 emissions from ships as part of the global inventory of CO2 emissions. In 2003, IMO Assembly adopted Resolution A.963(23), IMO Policies and practices related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, which urged the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) "to identify and develop the mechanism(s) needed to achieve the limitation or reduction of GHG emissions from international shipping". Since then, MEPC has been "energetically pursuing measures to limit and reduce GHG emissions from international shipping". This has involved a two-track approach, the first to evaluate the level of emissions of CO2 from the shipping industry, the second to develop strategies to reduce them.
Evaluations of emissions have been carried out since the late 1990s. The first IMO study on GHG emissions from ships (published in 2000) estimated that ships engaged in international trade in 1996 contributed about 1.8% to global CO2 emissions. The follow-up study published in 2009, put emissions from 2007 at about 2.7% of the global CO2 emissions. By 2014, the third IMO GHG Study estimated emissions in 2012 to be slightly lower, at about 2.2%, but this had risen by the fourth and most recent study, which puts the share of shipping emissions in 2018 back up at 2.89% and estimated that if no further action is taken, international shipping emissions are expected to represent 90% to 130% of 2008 emission levels by 2050.
Working out how the shipping industry can reduce these levels is of course the more challenging track. Much criticism has been levied at the IMO for the slowness of its negotiations in this field, with some States and regional organizations taking their own lead in this area, imposing stricter regulations on ships flying the flags of their member States, while hoping that the IMO will soon catch up with them (see for example the strategy of the European Union). The most efficient way forward is for the IMO to set global standards in reducing emissions, an approach called for by the Kyoto protocol in 2005, which acknowledged that emissions from international shipping cannot be attributed to any particular national economy due to its global nature and complex operation, but not echoed by the Paris Agreement, which mandated countries to address shipping at national and regional levels instead. MPEC put forward a draft greenhouse gas strategy in 2018 requiring the shipping sector to reduce its emissions by at least 50% by 2050 (in comparison to the levels of 2008) while pursuing efforts towards phasing them out as soon as possible. The IMO has agreed that reductions in CO2 emissions should be at least 40% by 2030 with efforts to be made towards 70% by 2050 but negotiations on how to reach this goal have been slow and difficult. The Clydebank Declaration signed by 22 States at COP26 attempts to go further by establishing green shipping corridors (zero-emission maritime routes) between two or more ports.
In July 2023 MEPC 80 adopted the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships. The revised IMO GHG Strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative check-points for 2030 and 2040. The strategies proposed by the IMO include technical measures to create energy-efficient ship designs, operational measures to ensure more efficient operation and economic incentives (a GHG emissions pricing mechanism) to reduce emissions.
In August 2024. the International Chamber of Shipping (a global association of shipowners, representing over 80% of the world merchant fleet), working with the governments of Bahamas and Liberia, two of the largest Flag States, presented a new proposal to ensure delivery of the IMO target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping by or around 2050. According to the ICS, the proposal would establish a GHG Fee, charged to ships per tonne of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emitted, combined with a “feebate” mechanism to incentivise the accelerated production and uptake of zero/near-zero GHG marine fuels, such as green ammonia, hydrogen and methanol, sustainable biofuels, and new technologies such as on-board carbon capture. (see their press release here).
In the meantime, shipping companies are exploring alternative fuels or even returning to the use of sails as a means to reduce emissions. The different types of fuels under scrutiny include ‘blue’ fuels from reformed natural gas with integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS), biofuels from sustainable bioenergy sources (bio-gas or bio-diesel) and electrofuels from renewable electricity, with non-fossil carbon, or nitrogen (synthetic natural gas, e-ammonia, e-methanol). Further information thereto can be found here.
Find out more about what the IMO is doing to reduce GHG emissions
Invasive species
As ships travel the world they often bring microorganisms, plants, algae and animals with them, either attached to ship’s hull or in the ballast water. Ballast water, which is used to stabilize vessels at sea to compensate for weight changes in cargo load levels on board, is taken onboard in one location and released in ports elsewhere. A single ship can carry 100,000 cubic metres of ballast water, and with it all kinds of marine life from algae to molluscs, worms to fish. Invasive species can modify the balance of an existing marine ecosystem irreperably, acting as competitors, predators and parasites, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem and sometimes leading to the collapse and extinction of indigenous species. Find out more about some examples of invasive species here.
Marine invasive species are a global phenomena, near impossible to prevent, control or even document. The International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS) of 2001, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments of 2004 and the Guidelines for the control and management of ships' biofouling to minimize the transfer of invasive aquatic species aim to regulate the problem but with limited success. Once invasive species have established themselves and spread, it is both difficult and costly to control or eradicate them. The only way to deal with them is to establish mechanisms preventing their introduction (such as the obligatory cleaning of hulls and filtering of ballast water), creating monitoring systems for detecting new invasions before they can establish themselves and acting rapidly to control any newly detected invaders before they spread.
Accidents
Maritime accidents may occur as a result of equipment failure, bad weather conditions or human error. As technological advances through the late 20th century allowed the ship building industry to boom, with ships carrying ever greater loads at ever faster speeds, the impact of accidents multiplied in proportion to the size of the vessels involved - at least until the early 1990s when the protection of a double hull was introduced in ship design. The IMO has a regulatory framework in place for the prevention of collisions, for the running of search and rescue operations, for the establishment of national cleanup strategies and for the recording and evaluation of accidents.
The effect of introducing large amounts of heavy oil, chemicals or metals into the marine environment has a dramatic impact in both the short-term, killing marine life in the vicinity within days, and also over the long-term. Research expeditions to sites of marine disasters undertaken years later report substantially impacted ecosystems, a reduced level of marine life and abnormal behaviour of those species which remain. While implementation plans and tools used for operational clean-ups are improving with time the impact of such accidents is still tremendous.
Ship recycling
Ship recycling is a great issue of concern when it comes to the industry’s impact on the ocean as ships continue to pose a threat to the marine environment even beyond the end of their life cycles. Hundreds of vessels are decommissioned and dismantled each year, most of which are sold for breaking on the beaches of South Asia, in particular Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where poor environmental and social conditions prevail. Not only does this release many of the hazardous materials used in ship-building such as asbestos, heavy metals or hydrocarbons into the environment, the regime in place to protect the health and well-being of the workers is also inadequate. The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, adopted in 2009 (but yet to enter into force), aims to ensure that vessels do not pose risks to human health, safety and to the environment by introducing regulations on the design, construction, operation and preparation of vessels, the operation of ship recycling facilities and the establishment of an enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, incorporating certification and reporting requirements.
Find out more about ship recycling from the IMO here
According to their website, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a global coalition of environmental, human and labour rights organisations working to reverse the environmental and human rights abuses of current shipbreaking practices and to ensure the safe and environmentally sound dismantling of end-of-life ships worldwide. The platform works to call the shipping industry to account for the end-of-life practices, raise public awareness of the human rights abuses and pollution caused by shipbreaking, and promote policies and marketplace incentives to divert traffic away from the breaking beaches in Southeast Asia. Their goal is to find "sustainable solutions that encompass the principles of human rights, corporate accountability, environmental justice, 'polluter pays', producer responsibility and clean production".
According to data released by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, 446 ocean-going commercial vessels were sold to the scrap yards in 2023. Of these, 325 large tankers, bulkers, offshore platforms, cargo- and passenger-ships were broken down on the beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, amounting to more than 85% of the gross tonnage dismantled globally. The 2023 evaluation can be accessed here.
Listen to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform Podcast: The Missing Link
The hazardous practice of shipbreaking is illustrated in this National Geographic film, Where Ships Go to Die, Workers Risk Everything:
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