ADDRESSING MARINE

POLLUTION FROM SHIPPING

Ship Repair And
Maintenance

VS

Marine
Pollution

Oceans make up 71% of Earths surface, and it is

also where life is said to have begun.
We have always linked water to life; great, ancient
human civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and
China rose alongside rivers like the Nile, Euphrates
and Yangtze, for example, and in more fundamental
ways, we even track evidence of water on planets like
Mars as an indicator that it must have once housed
living organisms.
The human body itself is composed of up to 60% water
and certain vital parts, like our brain, heart, lungs, skin,
muscles and kidneys are composed of even more.
In short water creates life, water sustains life, and we ourselves as part-water. In a quote from President John F.
Kennedy from 1962 that still resonates today: when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we
are going back from whence we came.
Unfortunately, the levels of pollution in, and abuse of our marine environment does not appear to reflect that
vital importance and intimate connection a carelessness that ultimately endangers us, too.

The worlds waters are under threat from several fronts, as

identified by the World Wildlife Fund: unsustainable
fishing practices that exploit and deplete valuable fish
stocks; inadequate Marine Protected Areas; invasive
housing and tourism developments on the coastline;
heavy shipping traffic; oil and gas exploration, drilling
and transport; pollution; aquaculture; and climate change.
Kemplon Engineering takes a closer look at a threat of
particular relevance to the maritime industry, Shipping.

In short water creates life, water sustains life, and we

ourselves as part-water. In a quote from President John F.
Kennedy from 1962 that still resonates today: when we
go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are
going back from whence we came.
Unfortunately, the levels of pollution in, and abuse of our
marine environment does not appear to reflect that vital
importance and intimate connection a carelessness that
ultimately endangers us, too.

Shipping is absolutely indispensable to the global

economy, accounting for about 90% of world trade. It is
considered the most carbon efficient and least
environmentally detrimental means of commercial transport
(vs. road and air), and has even seen considerable
reductions in pollution over recent years in spite of
increases in trade. Still, with about 50,000 merchant ships
plying international trade routes with all sorts of cargo, its
environmental impact is far from negligible. Shipping
contributes about 3% of the worlds total CO2 emissions,
for one, which inextricably plays a role in climate change.

On a lighter note, the industry is highly engaged in making

reductions, via international and legally-binding standards
on emissions regulations, and in making vessels more
efficient by moving more items while using less petroleumbased fuels.

Aside from the dangers presented by air emissions, oil

and other pollutants can also damage marine
environments. While it must be noted that 80% of
marine pollution comes from land via human activities
such as manufacturing, farming and waste disposal,
and that the most common pollutant element in the
ocean is actually plastic, the 46% of oil making its way
into the oceans annually via marine transportation is
sizeable too. Oil pollution from marine transport can
be from accidents or deliberate actions like dumping
bilge oil.
Of the oil entering the marine environment annually,
12% is credited to oil spills and 10% is attributed to
dumped bilge oil. Even if the quantity of oil from
shipping may be comparatively small to what land
activities bring in, one must also take into account the
particularly damaging properties of this pollutant. Oil
is, after all, said to be the fastest source of deterioration
to the ocean. Oil has both direct effects leading to
marine life death by suffocation, and may indirectly
impact surviving marine life by changing animal
behaviors and altering coast or ocean habitats.

Thankfully, oil spills from ships have generally

shown a downward trend; of Quantity of Spilled Oil
(for large spills of > 700 tonnes), the years 20102014 had 1.8 spills per year on average, versus 3.4
spills per year on average in 2000-2009, or even 24.5
spills per year on average in 1970-1979.
Aside from oil spills, there is also seemingly
negligible pollution from normal operations, such as
oil release via leakage, maintenance and
mishandling, the use of chemicals in cleaning, fire
extinguishers, water treatment, refrigeration, antifouling chemicals added to paints that keep hulls
free of algae and barnacles, and the discharge of
black water (sewage) and runoff from showers and
wash basins on ships. The effects of these practices
can still be cumulatively damaging.

Shipping can also bring in Invasive Species to

new locales, altering the delicate ecosystems
they are released into. One of the ways this
happens is through ballast water. Ships use water
for stability loaded when cargo is low, released
when cargo is picked up. Estimates peg 10
billion tons of ballast water going around
annually; and with the water comes living marine
species that can thrive and even dominate in new
environments, threatening local marine life and
ecological balance.

Though these operational discharges are

damaging, the community is working on
regulating them too, through international,
national and local restrictions and protocols as
outlined by instruments like The International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from
Ships (MARPOL), the International Convention
on Oil Pollution, Preparedness, Response, and
Cooperation (OPRC), and the International
Convention for the Control of Harmful Antifouling Systems on Ships (the AFS Treaty).

The problems are vast, and we are all called in ways

both big and small to do our part. It is good to see that
the maritime community is not complacent in
addressing their contribution to this environmental
issue. For us at Kemplon Engineering, environmental
preservation is intimately tied with providing
engineering services that help our marine and
industrial clients keep their assets in tip-top-shape,
toward preventing accidents and minimizing spills,
discharges and other environmental contamination.
We have been providing a wide range of engineering
services on time and on budget since 2005. If you
have an engineering project in mind, explore our
website and see what Kemplon Engineering can do for
you. From welding and fabrication, precision machining,
pipe fitting, laser cutting, and more, we just might have
the solutions you need for your projects or ideas.
Contact us for queries and quotes at
info@kemplon.com, or by phone at (877) 522-6526.

Related Articles:
Causes & Remedies of Onboard Accidents
Maritime Disputes in Asia: Flashpoint for Regional Conflict?
Panama Canal Updates: Good News, Bad News
Image Credits:
http://i.bnet.com/blogs/bp-photoskimmers_at_work.jpg
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/june14/our-ocean.jpg
http://sailorsforthesea.org/sites/default/files/top-10-items-found.jpg
http://www.4thmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/4706_4422.jpg
https://xeneta.com/dynamic/upload/bilder/blogg/Container-Shipping-By-the-Numbers.png
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dgasperik/Ocean%20Conservancy%20Top%20Ten%20Debris%20Graphic.jpg
http://www.northseaballast.eu/downloadimage/2145/1968_3192012_44609_PM_bw%20uitleg.jpg/bw%20uitleg.jpg
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/infographics-tips/disastrous-oil-spills-design-outstanding-infographics-tipsresources.jpg

Kemplon
Marine
Engineering