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For decades, the shipping sector has been incorporated into the global decarbonization process. At present, global shipping - as a whole - aims to reduce its emission levels by 40 % by 2030 in relation to the 2008 level. In reducing greenhouse gas emissions, regulations such as the MARPOL 73/78 Convention and Energy Efficiency Design Index as well as other monitoring and managing schemes already in operation (e.g., Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan and Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator) play a crucial role in measuring fuel consumption and ship engine emission output. Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) is another measure, projected to be ratified in 2023, in-line with decarbonization targets in which the International Maritime Organization has planned a 70 % reduction in emissions level by 2050 using the same 2008 baseline. For this to happen, ship speed may need to be reduced, a decrease of fleet capacity may also need to be considered, and new ships may need to replace older ones already in service. The costs of implementing these types of reforms are obviously significant to the sector. Such change will augment the overall shipping overhead, effecting subsequent transportation and consumer costs. This paper aims to specify the scale of the expected costs of implementing EEXI globally. The current maritime fleet has been analyzed in terms of energy demand, deadweight tonnage, and expected CO2 emission reduction marginal abatement costs (MAC). Two pathways to achieve the desired EEXI values are presented, including the most common and available technologies to reduce demand. These technologies are subjected to MAC valuation and presented quantitatively for the world fleet. The research also investigates alternative fuel options in regard to lessening the CO2 impact, developing wind support systems, and avoiding conventional advancements to ships (e.g., upgrading the propeller or the propulsion system). At length, the target of the work is t

The COVID-19 pandemic and its lock-down measures have resulted in periods of reduced human activity, known as anthropause. While this period was expected to be favorable for the marine ecosystem, due to a probable reduction of pollution, shipping traffic, industrial activity and fishing pressure, negative counterparts such as reduced fisheries surveillance could counterbalance these positive effects. Simultaneously, on-land pressure due to human disturbance and tourism should have drastically decreased, potentially benefiting land-breeding marine animals such as seabirds. We analyzed 11 breeding seasons of data on several biological parameters of little penguins from a popular tourist attraction at Phillip Island, Australia. We investigated the impact of anthropogenic activities on penguin behavior during the breeding season measured by (1) distribution at sea, (2) colony attendance, (3) isotopic niche (4) chick meal mass, and (5) offspring investment against shipping traffic and number of tourists. The 2020 lock-downs resulted in a near absence of tourists visiting the Penguin Parade®, which was otherwise visited by 800,000+ visitors on average per breeding season. However, our long-term analysis showed no effect of the presence of visitors on little penguins' activities. Surprisingly, the anthropause did not trigger any changes in maritime traffic intensity and distribution in the region. We found inter- and intra-annual variations for most parameters, we detected a negative effect of marine traffic on the foraging efficiency. Our results suggest that environmental variations have a greater influence on the breeding behavior of little penguins compared to short-term anthropause events. Our long-term dataset was key to test whether changes in anthropogenic activities affected the wildlife during the COVID-19 pandemic.