As Global Trade Grows, So Does the Spewing Of Noxious Emissions
By BRUCE STANLEY
The Wall Street Journal
November 27, 2007
The bunker fuel discussed in this article is the type of oil that was spilled into the San Francisco bay (58,000 gallons) from the Cosco Busan - it's nasty stuff!! Bunker fuel is a tar-like sludge left over from the refining
of petroleum. It often contains toxic heavy metals such as lead and
vanadium and is collected from the bottoms of the distillation towers
in which refineries process crude. Raw, unheated bunker fuel has the
composition and consistency of asphalt.
To see how container ships burn this low grade fuel, click the link to the article.
As air pollution rises on the global political agenda, pressure is mounting on a largely hidden and proliferating source of dangerous emissions: the shipping industry.
The corpuscles of the global economy, ships carry more than 90% of the world's merchandise by volume, and the tonnage of cargo sent by ships has tripled since 1970. Yet the fuel propelling them is cheap and dirty and produces an especially noxious exhaust.
The Evelyn Maersk has a roomful of specialized equipment to heat, treat and purify bunker fuel before it injects it into its 14-cylinder main engine.
Ships release more sulfur dioxide, a sooty pollutant associated with acid rain, than all of the world's cars, trucks and buses combined, according to a March study by the International Council on Clean Transportation. That study also found that ships produced an estimated 27% of the world's smog-causing nitrogen-oxide emissions in 2005. Only six countries in the world emitted more greenhouse gases -- which trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the globe -- than was produced collectively in 2001 by all ships larger than 100 tons, according to the study and United Nations statistics.
The global shipping industry is mired in an internal struggle over how to cope with its emissions problem, and no simple strategies have emerged for regulating the open seas.
But demands for solutions are intensifying. Assertive governments and a few ports that wield substantial commercial power are proving that local action can reverberate internationally. Since Jan. 1, the state of California has required ships sailing within 24 miles of its shores to use cleaner-burning fuels in their auxiliary engines. Similar to a 2005 measure governing Europe's Baltic Sea region, the California law restricts access to America's two largest ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach. Ships that don't comply can be fined or impounded.
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So a few of shipping's largest players are making an unprecedented proposal for a single, strict limit on sulfur emissions in all oceans.
"The general population of the world would have to pay an extra one or two cents for their beer, but you'd solve the [sulfur] emissions problem," says Pradeep Chawla, an executive of Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Ltd.
Yet the ravenous appetite of consumers for imported goods is growing so fast that marginal cuts in emissions would likely make no difference. Even a 30% decrease in carbon emissions from ships could be offset by the expanding size of the world's fleet, says Russell Long, vice president of environmental group Friends of the Earth, a respected authority on the subject...
...
One big culprit is the industry's favorite fuel. Most ships rely on residual fuel oil, also known as bunker fuel, to power their huge engines. Bunker fuel is a tar-like sludge left over from the refining of petroleum. It often contains toxic heavy metals such as lead and vanadium and is collected from the bottoms of the distillation towers in which refineries process crude. Raw, unheated bunker fuel has the composition and consistency of asphalt.
"You can walk on it," says Claus Jensen, the fleet manager at Torm, a shipping company based in Copenhagen.
It also is cheap. A recent spot price for intermediate-grade bunker fuel traded in Singapore averaged $505.50 a metric ton, less than two-thirds the rate of marine gas oil, a distillate similar to what diesel trucks use...
Link to Article to read the full article.
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