On the heels of Kaua‘i resident’s concerns about cruise ship emissions in Nawiliwili Harbor comes a report of global deaths due to under-regulated shipping emissions. A scientific article entitled “Mortality from Ship Emissions: A Global Assesment,” shows that 60,000 people
On the heels of Kaua‘i resident’s concerns about cruise ship emissions in Nawiliwili Harbor comes a report of global deaths due to under-regulated shipping emissions. A scientific article entitled “Mortality from Ship Emissions: A Global Assesment,” shows that 60,000 people died from heart and lung disease as a result of under-regulated shipping emissions in 2002.
The death toll is projected to grow by 40 percent by 2012. The study is the first of its kind to study premature deaths linked to emissions of seafaring vessels. The research relates ship emissions of particulate matter to yearly cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths.
Diesel-powered ocean vessels burn some of the dirtiest fuel, having almost 2,000 times the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel in the United States and Europe. Emissions from international ships have risen while air pollution from diesel trucks and buses have been reduced by more than 90 percent over the last several decades, all using the same diesel technology.
“Ship pollution affects the health of communities in coastal and inland regions around the world, yet pollution from ships remain one of the least regulated parts of our global transportation system,” Dr. James Corbett, associate professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware and lead author of the report, said in a statement. “With more than half the world’s population living in coastal regions and freight growth outpacing other sectors, shipping emissions will need to meet stricter control targets.”
The authors of the report found that the health impacts were mostly concentrated in coastal regions along major trade routes. East and South Asia each represented one-quarter of the global impact, while one-third of all shipping deaths occurred in Europe and one-tenth of the deaths occurred in North America.
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) is evaluating oceangoing ship emissions reduction studies in meetings in London over the upcoming months. The IMO is the international body charged with regulating international maritime environmental issues. Negotiations on new air pollutions policies and standards have been ongoing for the last 15 years. The IMO’s only action on regulating ship emissions, which was adopted in 1997 and implemented in 2005, codifiedimprovements already adopted by most of the shipping industry.
“Right now, we’re missing an opportunity to improve the health of millions living in port and coastal cities all over the world,” David Marshall, senior counsel for the Clean Air Task Force and participant in the IMO discussions, said in a statement. “The regulation of polluting emissions from ocean ships lags far behind land-based sources, despite widely available, cleaner technologies already in use. The IMO needs to act now to clean up the shipping industry.”
