By A. Tsimplakis
Container ships appear to generate a larger share of emissions produced by commercial vessels compared to their overall number and transport capacity, according to a recent study by the maritime transports laboratory at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Taking into account that global shipping generates only 2.5 percent of total industrial emissions worldwide, the lab’s study – supervised by Prof. Dimitris Lyridis – included all vessels over 10K DWT, while breaking down the ships into four main categories: bulkers, tankers, containerships and LPG carriers. The latter comprise 86.7 percent of all vessels considered in the study, or 85 percent of installed horsepower and 91.3 percent of transport capacity.
Container ships, with just 18.4 percent of global DWTs, generated 38.42 percent of maritime shipping emissions, of the total number of vessels considered. Bulkers generated 35.48 percent of emissions, although with more than double the DWTs of container ships. Tankers followed with 33.75 percent of DWTs and 24.45 percent of emissions, while LPG carriers comprised 1.13 percent of DWTs and just 1.65 percent of emissions.
