The highest shipping emissions of PM2.5 and SOx per unit area are reported in the sea areas in the South-Eastern and Southern Asia, according to a recent study by Atmospheric Environment, that used Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to evaluate emissions for 2015.
The study by Lasse Johansson, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Jaakko Kukkonen, evaluated emissions using the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM3), which uses AIS data to describe the traffic activities of ships. The emissions were analysed in terms of selected sea areas, ship categories, the sizes of ships and flag states.
The study showed that the most shipping polluted regions are the Eastern and Southern China Seas, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, North Atlantic near the European coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and along the western coast of North America.
More specifically, the report reached the following conclusions:
- The four largest fleets (Panama, China, Liberia and Marshall Islands) were responsible for almost a half (48.4%) of the total CO2 emissions in 2015 (832 million tons).
- The fleets from fifth to eighth (Singapore, the United Kingdom, Malta and Bahamas) were responsible for 20% of the emissions.
- However, the largest four fleets carried 57% of the global seaborne cargo; this value is larger than their corresponding share of the global CO2 emissions from shipping.
- The highest emission densities in a decreasing order, as measured within a circle of 10 km, occur in Singapore, Hong Kong, Antwerp, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Rotterdam.
- Regarding the total emissions of the sea regions, the highest emissions occurred in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, South China Sea, Indian Ocean and South Atlantic.
- Based on ship categories, the most significant contributions were from container ships, cargo carriers and tankers; their combined CO2 emissions were 82.6% of the total emissions of the global fleet.
The report also highlighted that it is possible to analyse the global shipping activities using the AIS signals of individual ships, combined with modelling, to obtain results that are in agreement with the reported top-down fuel statistics. It is expected that the IMO Data Collection System and EU Monitoring, Reporting and Verification systems will in the future provide a good benchmark for fuel consumption modelling of the global fleet in the future. Both of these systems make fuel consumption reporting mandatory on ship level.
Further details may be found in the following report:
