King Canute muses in the South Seas: Why aren’t Pacific Islands transitioning to low carbon sea transport futures?

Transition to low carbon sea transport is a logical response to the extreme dependency of the Pacific Islands region on imported fossil fuel, its significant vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the critical shipping needs of Pacific Island countries (PICs). Building on previous work in low carbon sea transport in the Pacific, this paper further considers the barriers to achieving such transition by assessing, through a ‘post-Paris Agreement’ lens, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by PICs and contrasting these to the near total lack of investment and planning for low carbon transition in the transport sector with the parallel occurrence in the electricity sector where ~USD 2 billion of donor investment is deployed or queued despite electricity using only ~20% of fossil fuel across the region. Consistent with recent international studies, inadequate and inappropriate financing and policy have been identified as dominant transition barriers for low carbon sea transport development in PICs. This paper further examines the regional level barriers to policy development, and finds them inhibited by the silo nature of the major regional actors. The implications that the Paris Agreement has for climate financing to support the essential research and capacity development needed to underpin a successful low carbon sea transport transition strategy at any useful scale and speed are also considered in this paper.     

Compliance with international emission regulations: Reducing the air pollution from merchant vessels

In September 1997, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an international convention protocol to reduce air pollution from ships, in order to achieve sustainable maritime development. This protocol has been approved by 15 member countries and will be enforced in May 2005. Pollutants emitted from ships, such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulfur oxides, etc. will be regulated by this convention through ship inspections and issuance of certificates. Ships belonging to maritime countries such as Taiwan, which sail around the world and berth in commercial ports, must obey this convention. This study has investigated possible strategies, which may be adopted by maritime countries to conform to this IMO convention in order to reduce the air pollution from ships. A sea-going ship must prepare EIAPP and IAPP certificates for inspection by port-state-control officials, when the ship is anchored at a maritime port. These port-state-control officials may also require the continuous detection and sampling of a ship's emissions, while it is berthed at the port. Legislative support is necessary for successful implementation of these safeguards. It is suggested, therefore, that the administration of both navigational and environmental protection, in maritime countries, cooperate in the revision of relevant federal laws, to implement the provisions of the MARPOL 73/78/97 convention; in this way, the air pollution from ships can be effectively controlled. Installation of advanced detection equipment can effectively detect any ships’ violations of air pollution regulations. The Harbor Affairs’ Bureau should also establish a database of air pollution inspections for ships berthed within their harbor, requiring that ships’ equipment comply with the requirements of the MARPOL convention, for the reduction of air pollution.     

船舶压载水中有害生物的管理与控制

对由压载水引起的外来生物污染问题进行了较详细的分析。介绍了目前已经应用或正处于研究中的各种对压载水处理方法 ,探讨了其优越性及发展前景     

EU shipping in the dawn of managing the ballast water issue

After almost two decades of intensified research, regulatory and political activities focussed on the prevention of harmful organisms and pathogen transfers around the world in 2004 the International Convention on the Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) was adopted to provide a common and globally uniform ballast water management (BWM) approach. Nevertheless, regionally different BWM approaches are developing. By now, many countries around the world seem to be aware of the ballast water issue and its management limitations. In the EU, different approaches have been identified at regional and national scales. The first voluntary BWM requirements at the regional level have been introduced by the HELCOM and OSPAR countries, Adriatic countries have prepared a common approach considering a new legal framework for implementation, and some national level requirements have also been identified. However, a common EU wide BWM approach has not yet clearly emerged. In this paper the authors review the BWM approaches developing in Europe, and describe the EU response on BWM. The authors further provide recommendations which may be considered when developing BWM measures in the EU. This contribution focuses on the BWM issue in European seas in light of the EU Maritime Policy and EU Marine Strategy. The Caspian Sea was also considered.     

全球气候治理背景下的船舶营运能效评级方法

为共同应对全球气候变化,国际海事组织(IMO)计划制定一套强制性船舶营运能效(碳排放强度)国际机制,与现有强制性船舶设计能效机制互为补充.然而,由于受诸多因素影响,船舶营运能效具有较大的随机性和不确定性,为相关国际机制的构建带来巨大挑战.文中通过构建带有年份虚拟变量的碳强度分位数回归模型,实现了对不同时期海运船队碳排放...     

Ship board testing of a deoxygenation ballast water treatment

A ship board trial of a deoxygenation method for treating ballast water was carried out during a voyage from Southampton (United Kingdom) to Manzanillo (Panama). A nutrient solution added to two ballast tanks encouraged bacterial growth, resulting in a gradual change to an anoxic environment. Samples were taken from two treated tanks and two untreated tanks to assess changes in the abundance and viability of zooplankton, phytoplankton and bacteria. The work was carried out before the International Maritime Organization (IMO) standard was agreed so only a broad indication of whether the results achieved the standard was given. For the zooplankton, the standard would have been achieved within 5 or 7 days but the phytoplankton results were inconclusive. The biological efficacy was the result of the combination of several factors, including the treatment, pump damage and an increase in the water temperature during the voyage.     

On board short-time high temperature heat treatment of ballast water: a field trial under operational conditions

A ballast water short-time high temperature heat treatment technique was applied on board a car-carrier during a voyage from Egypt to Belgium. Ballast water from three tanks was subjected for a few seconds to temperatures ranging from 55 degrees C to 80 degrees C. The water was heated using the vessel's heat exchanger steam and a second heat exchanger was used to pre-heat and cool down the water. The treatment was effective at causing mortality of bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) standard was not agreed before this study was carried out, but comparing our results gives a broad indication that the IMO standard would have been met in some of the tests for the zooplankton, in all the tests for the phytoplankton; and probably on most occasions for the bacteria. Passing the water through the pump increased the kill rate but increasing the temperature above 55 degrees C did not improve the heat treatment's efficacy.     

Ballast water: A threat to the Amazon Basin

Ballast water exchange (BWE) is the most efficient measure to control the invasion of exotic species from ships. This procedure is being used for merchant ships in national and international voyages. The ballast water (BW) salinity is the main parameter to evaluate the efficacy of the mid-ocean ballast water exchange. The vessels must report to the Port State Control (PSC), via ballast water report (BWR), where and how the mid-ocean BWE was performed. This measure allows the PSC to analyze this information before the ship arrives at the port, and to decide whether or not it should berth.Ship BW reporting forms were collected from the Captaincy of Santana and some ships were visited near the Port of Santana, located in Macapá (Amazon River), to evaluate the BW quality onboard. We evaluated data submitted in these BWR forms and concluded that the BWE efficacy might be compromised, because data contained in these BWR indicate that some ships did not change their BW. We found mistakes in filling the BWR forms and lack of information. Moreover, these ships had discharged BW with high level of salinity, Escherichia coli and total coliforms into the Amazon River. We concluded that the authorities of the Amazon Region need to develop more efficient proceedings to evaluate the ballast water reporting forms and BW quality, as there is potential risk of future invasion of exotic species in Brazilian ports.