NABU
  • Contacts
  • Press
  • Shop
  • DE | EN
  • About us
      • News
        UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins 5 June with a new peatland conservation guideline issued

        UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins 5 June more →

      • Ecosystem Restoration
        Restoring peatlands, sequestering carbon

        Restoring peatlands, sequestering carbon more →

      • Topics in depth
      • Regional Development
      • Biosphere Reserves
      • Civil Society
      • Environmental Education
      • Cooperations
      • Projects
      • Water for Life
      • Hutan Harapan
      • Biodiversity Project Ethiopia
      • Ethiopia's Wild Coffee Forests
  • Topics
      • Ethiopia
        Green diversification of Ethiopia’s garden coffee value chain

        Ethiopia’s garden coffee value chain more →

      • Indonesia
        Indonesia: Restoring forests for future needs

        Indonesia: Restoring forests for future needs more →

      • All Topics
      • Climate Change
      • Biodiversity
      • Species
      • Regional Development
      • Land Use
      • Traffic
      • Ecosystems
      • Protected Areas
      • Education
      • Civil Society
      • Cooperations
  • Focus Regions
      • Ethiopia
        Developing forest landscapes for livelihoods and climate adaptation in Southwest Ethiopia

        Developing forest landscapes in Southwest Ethiopia more →

      • Central Asia
         Wild, beautiful and endangered

        Wild, beautiful and endangered more →

      • Focus Regions
      • Europe
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Caucasus
      • Projects worldwide
      • Europe: Peat Restore
      • Germany: Havel
      • Ethiopia: Coffee-novation
      • Ethiopia: Water for Life
      • Madagascar: Green coasts
      • Kyrgyzstan: Snow leopard
      • Indonesia: Hutan Harapan
  • EU Policy
      • Project
        How do we finance nature and climate protection?

        How do we finance nature and climate protection? more →

      • EU Policy
        The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy needs a drastic reform

        The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy needs a drastic reform more →

      • Topics
      • Agriculture
      • Ecosystems
      • Traffic
      • Species
      • Education
      • Climate change
      • Issues
      • Common Agricultural Policy
      • Electromobility in Europe
      • Common Fisheries Policy
      • Sustainable Finance
  • Get involved
      • Snow Leopards
        Support us with your donation or adoption

        Hoping is not enough more →

      • Africa
        Nature conservation and regional development really have an impact – NABU knows this and acts on it.

        Help Africa’s nature by supporting one of our funds more →

      • Topics
      • Civil Society
      • Private Sector Cooperations
      • Habitat protection
      • Donate
      • Snow Leopards
      • Africa
  • Presse
  1. Topics
  2. Traffic
  • Traffic
  • Ports
  • Emission Control Area (ECA)
  • Cruise ship ranking 2020
  • Vision: Sustainable cruises in 2040
  • Cruise ship ranking 2020
  • SECA compliance and enforcement
  • LNG as Marine Fuel
  • Emission Control Areas
  • Study on scrubbers for ships
  • Expert discussion in the EU- Parliament on SECA
  • Ammonia as Marine Fuel
  • Cruise ship ranking 2022
  • Cruise ship ranking 2022
  • Container ships
  • Cruise ships
  • Government vessels
  • Greening Ports
  • Electromobility
  • NABU measures air pollution in ports
  • Publications
Read

Cleaner air is possible

Container ships need to become more climate-friendly

Container ships are considered to be environmentally friendly because they are very efficient. This is only half the story, because the global shipping industry also emits huge amounts of air pollutants.

Container ship - Foto: NABU/Sönke Diesener

Container ship - Foto: NABU/Sönke Diesener

Consignments sent by container ship are considered to be environmentally friendly because they are very efficient. Compared to trucks, ships emit low levels of carbon dioxides (CO2) per tonne-kilometre. This is only half the story, however, because the global shipping industry also emits huge amounts of air pollutants. The reason for this is that seagoing vessels run on heavy fuel oil, which is high in sulphur and heavy metals. The sulphur content of marine fuels is currently capped at a maximum of 3.5 per cent (so called „Heavy Fuel Oil“, HFO). This is 3,500 times more than is permitted in the diesel fuel used in cars and trucks (0,001per cent). That is why high sea ships emit huge amounts of sulfur dioxides (SO2), Particulate Matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx) und soot (Black Carbon, BC). Those emissions are highly poisonous and damage the environment and the human health.


NOx (which is a precursor of ground-level ozone) and BC also contribute massively to climate change, BC is even recognized to be the second strongest climate forcer after CO2. What’s more, in Europe alone, some 50,000 people die prematurely every year due to the impact of shipping emissions. Because of the increasing globalisation, low production costs in faraway countries, growing consumption and cheap fuels, bigger and more ships sail very long distances – and use more and more HFO. Accordingly, emissions from shipping are very high: the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of the United Nations estimates that international shipping in the year 2007 emitted 870 million tonnes CO2, 20 million tonnes NOx and 15 million tonnes SOx.


Schiffsschlot

Picture: Anek Schlegel

Two measures are relevant to reduce the air pollution from ships: One is the switch to a low sulfur fuel (0,005 per cent sulphur content), the other is the use of efficient exhaust gas technology (particle filters and SCR (selective catalytic reduction) systems). The use of these techniques is well established for land-based vehicles for some time, but is an absolute exception in the area of shipping. The implementation of these measures would reduce black carbon emissions by 99 per cent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 97 per cent and the emissions of other toxic substances such as toxic metal oxides by more than 99 per cent. An alternative could be the use of liquid natural gas (LNG) as fuel. When LNG is burnt, almost no SOx and soot emissions arise. The NOx emissions are considerably lowered.


A switch to a cleaner fuel (with a sulfur content of 0,005 per cent) and the use of effective exhaust gas emission techniques cause extra costs that only partially can be balanced by measures such as more efficient engines or slow steaming. But, as current calculations from NABU show, the extra costs per product would increase only marginally, for example for a T-shirt about 0,002€.


Therefore, the Sootfree for the Climate Campaign demands from all companies transporting goods on the high seas:

  • To stipulate cleaner transports from their ship owners and logistic suppliers and to order these as soon as they are available (as ships running on cleaner fuels and equipped with effective emission abatement techniques)
  • To add black carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions to their CSR reporting and their carbon footprinting

More information on this topic and the correspondent calculations can be found in the background paper „Air pollution from containerships“:


More

Fahrgastschiff und Frachtschiff auf dem Rhein, im Hintergrund das Siebengebirge. - Foto: Helge May
Traffic

Busses, Trains, Cars and Bicycles – there are manifold possibilities and means of transportation to navigate through one's day-to-day life. A comprehensive mobility is a given natural for our modern way of life, however, at the same time certain modes of transport have drastically negative effects on our climate, environment and health. more →

Clean Air in Ports Logo
Clean Air in Ports

In ports the air is often more contaminated than elsewhere. Ships, shunting locomotives, or heavy truck traffic pollute the air with emissions from fuels that are a thousand times dirtier than road fuels. more →

Measurement air pollution - Foto: Daniel Rieger
Measurements show high concentrations of ultrafine particles in ambient air

Cruise or container ships, ferries, tug or excursion boats – ports gather a broad range of fuming smokestacks, which emit a great deal of air pollutants. Neither ship owners nor port authorities take effective, sufficient and comprehensive measures in order to protect local residents from toxic exhaust gases. more →

Contact

Sönke Diesener - Foto: Sevens Maltry
Sönke Diesener
Transport Policy Officer Soenke.Diesener@NABU.de +49 30 284 984-1630

Download

Backgroundpaper "Air pollution from containerships" PDF (0.5 MB)

Contact

NABU
Charitéstraße 3
10117 Berlin
Germany

phone +49 (0)30.28 49 84-0 |
fax +49 (0)30.28 49 84-20 00
NABU@NABU.de

Info & Service

Contacts
Press
Jobs
NABU-TV
Shop

Imprint
Data Protection Notice
Cookie-Settings
Transparency

Main Topics

Biodiversity
Climate Change
Regional Development
Ecosystems
Land Use
Traffic
Focus Regions

Donate for Nature

Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
BLZ 370 205 00
Konto-Nr. 805 1 805

IBAN: DE65 3702 0500 0008 0518 05
BIC-Code: BFSWDE33XXX
Donate online


  • Press
  • Newsletter
  • Information Center
  • Deutsche Version