Methodology for sustainability analysis of ships

Abstract

Waterborne transport is widely believed to be one of the most sustainable modes of commercial transportation. However, factors often overlooked such as unmeasured pollution and costs, hazards to crew and general society call into question this particular assessment of the industry. This paper highlights the need for the application of a holistic approach for guiding shipping and related stakeholders towards sustainability using economically viable, less polluting and more human-friendly operating models, and it proposes a structured assessment methodology to achieve it. For it, ships are divided in onboard systems (e.g. propulsion systems, waste generation and ballast water management system) and their sustainability performance is assessed in order to see the ship's whole sustainability index. A definition of sustainable shipping is proposed. There is also a review of the critical pollution, cost and social drivers of ships in operation as well as a discussion about the capabilities and limitations of the current environmental/economical/social assessment tools for quantifying shipping sustainability.

Key words:

• Shipping sustainability
• impact assessment
• environmental impact
• economic impact
• social impact

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper has been prepared within the project “MARSTRUCT – Network of Excellence on Marine Structures”, (www.mar.ist.utl.pt/marstruct/), which is being funded by the European Union through the Growth program under contract TNE3-CT-2003–506141. The additional financial support from the Stanley Gray Fellowship Award of IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology) and the PhD Scholarship from the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government (Scholarship Programs for Researchers Training) has made possible writing the paper. All financial support is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

^aEmission limits and requirements for auxiliary diesel engines and diesel-electric engines operated on ocean-going vessels within California waters and 24 nautical miles of the California baseline.