ADDRESSING MARINE POLLUTION FROM SHIPPING

Ship Repair And Maintenance

VS Marine Pollution

ADDRESSING MARINE POLLUTION FROM SHIPPING

Oceans make up 71% of Earth’s surface, and it is

also where life is said to have begun.

We have always linked water to life; great, ancient

human civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and

China rose alongside rivers like the Nile, Euphrates

and Yangtze, for example, and in more fundamental

ways, we even track evidence of water on planets like

Mars as an indicator that it must have once housed

living organisms.

The human body itself is composed of up to 60% water

and certain vital parts, like our brain, heart, lungs, skin,

muscles and kidneys are composed of even more.

In short – water creates life, water sustains life, and we ourselves as part-water. In a quote from President John F.

Kennedy from 1962 that still resonates today: “…when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we

are going back from whence we came.”

Unfortunately, the levels of pollution in, and abuse of our marine environment does not appear to reflect that

vital importance and intimate connection – a carelessness that ultimately endangers us, too.

The world’s waters are under threat from several fronts, as

identified by the World Wildlife Fund: unsustainable

fishing practices that exploit and deplete valuable fish

stocks; inadequate Marine Protected Areas; invasive

housing and tourism developments on the coastline;

heavy shipping traffic; oil and gas exploration, drilling

and transport; pollution; aquaculture; and climate change.

Kemplon Engineering takes a closer look at a threat of

particular relevance to the maritime industry, Shipping.

In short – water creates life, water sustains life, and we

ourselves as part-water. In a quote from President John F.

Kennedy from 1962 that still resonates today: “…when we

go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are

going back from whence we came.”

Unfortunately, the levels of pollution in, and abuse of our

marine environment does not appear to reflect that vital

importance and intimate connection – a carelessness that

ultimately endangers us, too.

Shipping is absolutely indispensable to the global

economy, accounting for about 90% of world trade. It is

considered the most carbon efficient and least

environmentally detrimental means of commercial transport

(vs. road and air), and has even seen considerable

reductions in pollution over recent years in spite of

increases in trade. Still, with about 50,000 merchant ships

plying international trade routes with all sorts of cargo, its

environmental impact is far from negligible. Shipping

contributes about 3% of the world’s total CO2 emissions,

for one, which inextricably plays a role in climate change.

On a lighter note, the industry is highly engaged in making

reductions, via international and legally-binding standards

on emissions regulations, and in making vessels more

efficient by moving more items while using less petroleum-

based fuels.

Aside from the dangers presented by air emissions, oil

and other pollutants can also damage marine

environments. While it must be noted that 80% of

marine pollution comes from land via human activities

such as manufacturing, farming and waste disposal,

and that the most common pollutant element in the

ocean is actually plastic, the 46% of oil making its way

into the oceans annually via marine transportation is

sizeable too. Oil pollution from marine transport can

be from accidents or deliberate actions like dumping

bilge oil.

Of the oil entering the marine environment annually,

12% is credited to oil spills and 10% is attributed to

dumped bilge oil. Even if the quantity of oil from

shipping may be comparatively “small” to what land

activities bring in, one must also take into account the

particularly damaging properties of this pollutant. Oil

is, after all, said to be “the fastest source of deterioration

to the ocean”. Oil has both direct effects leading to

marine life death by suffocation, and may indirectly

impact surviving marine life by changing animal

behaviors and altering coast or ocean habitats.

Thankfully, oil spills from ships have generally

shown a downward trend; of Quantity of Spilled Oil

(for large spills of > 700 tonnes), the years 2010-

2014 had 1.8 spills per year on average, versus 3.4

spills per year on average in 2000-2009, or even 24.5

spills per year on average in 1970-1979.

Aside from oil spills, there is also seemingly

negligible pollution from normal operations, such as

oil release via leakage, maintenance and

mishandling, the use of chemicals in cleaning, fire

extinguishers, water treatment, refrigeration, anti-

fouling chemicals added to paints that keep hulls

free of algae and barnacles, and the discharge of

“black water (sewage)” and runoff from showers and

wash basins on ships. The effects of these practices

can still be cumulatively damaging.

Shipping can also bring in Invasive Species to

new locales, altering the delicate ecosystems

they are released into. One of the ways this

happens is through ballast water. Ships use water

for stability – loaded when cargo is low, released

when cargo is picked up. Estimates peg 10

billion tons of ballast water going around

annually; and with the water comes living marine

species that can thrive and even dominate in new

environments, threatening local marine life and

ecological balance.

Though these operational discharges are

damaging, the community is working on

regulating them too, through international,

national and local restrictions and protocols as

outlined by instruments like The International

Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from

Ships (“MARPOL”), the International Convention

on Oil Pollution, Preparedness, Response, and

Cooperation (“OPRC”), and the International

Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-

fouling Systems on Ships (the “AFS Treaty”).

The problems are vast, and we are all called in ways

both big and small to do our part. It is good to see that

the maritime community is not complacent in

addressing their contribution to this environmental

issue. For us at Kemplon Engineering, environmental

preservation is intimately tied with providing

engineering services that help our marine and

industrial clients keep their assets in tip-top-shape,

toward preventing accidents and minimizing spills,

discharges and other environmental contamination.

We have been providing a wide range of engineering

services – on time and on budget – since 2005. If you

have an engineering project in mind, explore our

website and see what Kemplon Engineering can do for

you. From welding and fabrication, precision machining,

pipe fitting, laser cutting, and more, we just might have

the solutions you need for your projects or ideas.

Contact us for queries and quotes at

info@kemplon.com, or by phone at (877) 522-6526.

Related Articles:

Causes & Remedies of Onboard Accidents

Maritime Disputes in Asia: Flashpoint for Regional Conflict?

Panama Canal Updates: Good News, Bad News

Image Credits:

http://i.bnet.com/blogs/bp-photoskimmers_at_work.jpg

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/june14/our-ocean.jpg

http://sailorsforthesea.org/sites/default/files/top-10-items-found.jpg

http://www.4thmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/4706_4422.jpg

https://xeneta.com/dynamic/upload/bilder/blogg/Container-Shipping-By-the-Numbers.png

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dgasperik/Ocean%20Conservancy%20Top%20Ten%20Debris%20Graphic.jpg

http://www.northseaballast.eu/downloadimage/2145/1968_3192012_44609_PM_bw%20uitleg.jpg/bw%20uitleg.jpg

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/infographics-tips/disastrous-oil-spills-design-outstanding-infographics-tips-

resources.jpg

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