The amount of air pollution produced by ocean-going vessels is staggering. A single cargo ship can produce as much air pollution as 350,000 cars in an hour. These large, ocean-going ships operate on diesel engines the size of a single-family home, and most burn “bunker” fuel, which is cheap, but much more polluting than fuels used to power vehicles. Bunker fuel contains high concentrations of toxic compounds banned from use in most other industrial and consumer applications.
As global trade increases, global shipping is expected to double within the next decade, bringing shipping pollution to new highs. EPA estimates that emissions from ocean-going vessels will double their contributions to the national mobile source inventory of sulfur oxides and quadruple particulate matter—both of which are major health threats. According to EPA, by 2030 shipping is expected to grow nearly three-fold over 2000 levels. This increased level of shipping not only degrades air quality, but also contributes to the acidification and eutrophication of waterways through deposition and carbon dioxide emissions.
Friends of the Earth is working at the local, state, national and international level to strengthen port regulations to protect local communities and waters, to enact health-protective national and international shipping standards, and to achieve global warming reductions from ocean-going vessels in order to attain pollution reductions worldwide.
Clean Vessels Program Manager, John Kaltenstein went to London, England in early October to attend the 58th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). At this IMO meeting, member states finalized and approved revisions to an international agreement governing air pollution from ships and discussing how to effectively regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships.
Click here for background on the MEPC!
At the urging of Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups, the California Air Resources Board took a bold step towards the clean up of vessel air emissions by passing a regulation to phase out the use of dirty bunker fuel. Starting in 2009, the new rule requires ships to burn low-sulfur diesel fuel instead of bunker fuel within 24 nautical miles of California's coast -- significantly reducing particulate matter, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions. The shipping industry consistently opposes any attempt to reduce the dangerous air emissions from vessels which is why California's new rule is vitally necessary and important.
Letter to CARB | SF Chronicle: Air board OKs toughest limits on ship exhausts
Read our new submissions to the IMO on air pollution standards for ships:
Following two major fuel spills by ocean-going vessels in less than a week, Friends of the Earth-U.S. is calling for a global ban on bunker fuel use in ships. The group has launched a people's petition to the U. S. Congress to end use of bunker fuels in its waters and is appealing to people and organizations in shipping nations and to the International Maritime Organization to do the same.
Sign the Petition | Press Release
Ships transiting the world’s oceans would abandon dirty bunker fuel and switch to less polluting types of marine diesel within five to 10 years under separate proposals made by green groups and oil tanker lobbyists during a special session of the International Maritime Organization in Norway, November 13 to 17, 2006. Making the switch to cleaner fuels would drastically cut air pollution from ships that causes acid rain and emits harmful particles that can lodge in people's lungs.