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Global negotiations set to limit greenhouse-gas pollution from ships.

Shipping emissions are likely to increase significantly in the coming decades, alongside increasing emphasis on the sustainability and environmental impacts of the maritime transport sector. Exhaust gas cleaning systems ("scrubbers"), using seawater or fresh water as cleaning media for sulfur dioxide, are progressively used by shipping companies to comply with emissions regulations. Little is known about the chemical composition of the scrubber effluent and its ecological consequences for marine life and biogeochemical processes. If scrubbers become a central tool for atmospheric pollution reduction from shipping, modeling, and experimental studies will be necessary to determine the ecological and biogeochemical effects of scrubber wash water discharge on the marine environment. Furthermore, attention must be paid to the regulation and enforcement of environmental protection standards concerning scrubber use. Close collaboration between natural scientists and social scientists is crucial for progress toward sustainable shipping and protection of the marine environment.

About 90% of global trade is moved by cargo ships which are collectively responsible for about 2.2% of the world's total Green House Gas (GHG) emissions (similar to that emitted by international aviation).

About 90% of global trade is moved by cargo ships which are collectively responsible for about 2.2% of the world's total Green House Gas (GHG) emissions (similar to that emitted by international aviation).

Reducing speeds across shipping fleets has been shown to make a substantial contribution to effective short term measures for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, working toward the goal adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in April 2018 to reduce the total annual GHG emission by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. I review modeling work on GHG emissions and also on the relationships between underwater noise, whale collision risk and speed. I examine different speed reduction scenarios that would contribute to GHG reduction targets, and the other environmental benefits of reduced underwater noise and risk of collisions with marine life. A modest 10% speed reduction across the global fleet has been estimated to reduce overall GHG emissions by around 13% (Faber et al., 2017) and improve the probability of meeting GHG targets by 23% (Comer et al., 2018). I conclude that such a 10% speed reduction, could reduce the total sound energy from shipping by around 40%. The associated reduction in overall ship strike risk has higher uncertainty but could be around 50%. This would benefit whale populations globally and complement current efforts to reduce collision risk in identified high risk areas through small changes in routing.

Offshore oil and gas accidents, deaths spike amid TRUMP administration's regulatory rollbacks.

The escalating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from maritime trade present a serious environmental and biological threat. With increasing emission reduction initiatives, such as the European Union's incorporation of the maritime sector into the emissions trading system, both challenges and opportunities emerge for maritime transport and associated industries. To address these concerns, this study presents a model specifically designed for estimating and projecting the spatiotemporal GHG emission inventory of ships, particularly when dealing with incomplete automatic identification system datasets. In the computational aspect of the model, various data processing techniques are employed to rectify inaccuracies arising from incomplete or erroneous AIS data, including big data cleaning, ship trajectory aggregation, multi-source spatiotemporal data fusion and missing data complementation. Utilizing a bottom-up ship dynamic approach, the model generates a high-resolution GHG emission inventory. This inventory contains key attributes such as the types of ships emitting GHGs, the locations of these emissions, the time periods during which emissions occur, and emissions. For predictive analytics, the model utilizes temporal fusion transformers equipped with the attention mechanism to accurately forecast the critical emission parameters, including emission locations, time frames, and quantities. Focusing on the sea area around Tianjin port-a region characterized by high shipping activity-this study achieves fine-grained emission source tracking via detailed emission inventory calculations. Moreover, the prediction model achieves a promising loss function of approximately 0.15 under the optimal parameter configuration, obtaining a better result than recurrent neural network (RNN) and long short-term memory network (LSTM) in the comparative experiments. The proposed method allows for a comprehensive understanding of emission patterns across diverse vessel types under vari

International shipping and aviation will have to cap their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) soon for the world to meet the ambitious goals laid down in the Paris Climate Change Agreement, participants at a side event at the Bonn climate change conference heard today.

The Pacific Islands have described progress on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the IMO as "alarmingly slow" and too slow to save many island nations.

Environment minister orders an urgent investigation into whether a $130m port for the oil and gas industry had appropriate assessments or approval

A Dutch cargo ship sank off the Belgian coast after colliding with a gas tanker early Tuesday. The crew of 11 was rescued.

Early this year, the Eduard TOLL set a record: laden with liquefied natural gas, the tanker was the first commercial vessel to cross the Arctic in winter without an icebreaker.

Calls for urgent action to reduce ship greenhouse gas emissions have been met with heavy push-back by many states and big industry groups meeting at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). A group of Pacific Island and mainly European states clashed repeatedly with those saying that decisions on immediate measures should await the final iteration of the IMO's comprehensive GHG strategy in 2023, rather than be part of the "initial" strategy in 2018. Green groups Seas At Risk and Transport & Environment, which are members of the Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC), said the most obvious immediate measure is to regulate ship speed, with the feasibility and effectiveness of slow steaming having been proven during the recession.

The captain of the Latvian tugboat Orkāns ("storm" in Latvian) could not believe his eyes when he saw a dozen physicists, engineers and technicians from four different European countries hastily working on the funnel of his vessel moored at the Riga Shipyard on the Baltic Sea. They were connecting a long pipe to a strange truck installed on shore. The reason for this turmoil is the choice of old and rusty Orkāns as a test-bed for the first futuristic experiment of cleaning the exhaust gas of a ship diesel engine, using a particle accelerator, with the goal of reducing the content of harmful pollutants.

The Arctic is among the most rapidly-changing regions on Earth. Diminishing levels of sea-ice has increased opportunities for maritime activities in historically inaccessible areas such as the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage. Degradation of Arctic marine ecosystems may accompany expanding vessel operations through introduced underwater noise, potential for large oil spills, among other things; and may compound stressors already effecting biological populations due to climate change. Assessments are needed to track changes in vessel traffic patterns and associated environmental impacts. We analyzed Arctic-wide vessel Automatic Identification System data 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017 to quantify the amount and spatial distribution of vessel operations, assess possible changes in these operations, and establish a baseline for future monitoring. Nearly 400,000 vessel transits were analyzed. Number of trips, hours of operation, and amount of sea surface exposed to vessel traffic were used to compare operations between 14 delineated waterways. Operations were extensive and diverse: an average of 132,828 trips were made annually by over 5,000 different vessels. Transits were made in all areas studied and all months of the year. Maritime activities were intensive in some areas, but ice-limited in others. Amount of sea surface exposed to vessel traffic exceeded 70% in all but three areas. Bulk carriers, cargo ships, passenger/cruise ships, research survey ships, and vessels supporting oil/gas-related activities were represented. However, fishing vessels, primarily in the BARENTS, BERING, and Norwegian Seas, surpassed operations of all other vessel types and comprised about one-half of all voyages each year. We observed no overt increasing or decreasing trends in vessel traffic volume in our limited study period. Instead, inter-year variation was evident. While the number of unique vessels and transits increased year-to-year, hours of operation declined in the s

Killer whales take in fewer hydrocarbons following tougher restrictions on vessel distances.

- As Arctic ice melts, sea routes will stay navigable for longer periods, which could drastically change international trade and shipping. - This chart shows the location of major oil and gas fields in the Arctic and the possible new trade routes through this frontier.

Dolphins could be at risk if their foraging opportunities are impacted due to man-made disturbances such as shipping, tourism, coastal development and oil and gas exploration.

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