According to Carbon War Room (CWR), more than 90% of world trade is articulated through maritime transport along its logistics chain.
Giant ships, authentic steel leviathans powered by fuel oil (the waste from the oil refining process) that carry tons of cargo, and that are responsible for setting the world's economy in motion. Your car, your mobile phone and even some of the fruit you eat is transported by these ships. From China to Europe, or from Europe to the US, shipping is a key part of trade around the world.
RELATED: Say goodbye to Diesel. Diesel engines have their days numbered
The problem is that according to the CWR, an NGO dedicated to combating polluting emissions, the world's 15 largest ships alone emit more NOx and sulfur into the atmosphere than the 1,300 million cars circulating around the world.
As we said before, these ships are fueled by fuel oil. A fuel derived from petroleum, much less refined than the gasoline or diesel we put in our cars. Although this navy fleet emits only 3% of greenhouse gases, the amount of nitrogen oxides (the famous NOx) emitted into the atmosphere is worrying: it exceeds the emissions of the 1.3 billion vehicles currently circulating around the world.
Worrisome? No doubt.
As we have seen, the environmental pressure on the car industry has grown year after year. See the repercussions of the Dieselgate case and the constant discussions around the viability of Diesel engines under the new environmental regulatory framework (see here).A pressure that has made the tax burden and the cost of automobiles increase. With the shipping industry and shipping companies, pressure has also increased, but less intensely.
According to The Economist, the price of shipping is at historic lows. The huge offer that exists in the sector has made prices decrease. Against this backdrop, shipping companies have neither incentives nor scope to reduce the ecological footprint of their activity. A slow process from a technical point of view, and very costly from an economic point of view.
In this bleak picture, however, there is an important aspect that must be emphasized: a large part of the emissions from ships occur at sea, causing less damage to public health than cars in cities.
future scenario
The European Parliament voted last month to include ship emissions in the European Union's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ECE).
Along the same lines, the United Nations has agreed to impose restrictions on the pollution of these ships by 2020. Measures that could increase pressure on the sector, and which should have an impact on the price of products for the final consumer. After all, 90% of the world's trade is via sea transport.
Source: The Economist