Earth Day: The Consequences of Climate Change and the Maritime Industry
Way back in the year 1970, the very first Earth Day was celebrated, with the primary goal of transformational change. Over 20 million people came together to look for ways to protect the environment, which is increasingly deteriorating due to human activity. The movement goes on today in what seems to be an uphill battle against nations that are slow to comply to the changes needed to bring down CO2 emissions globally and greedy corporations that do not wish to comply at all, or routinely try to lobby against efforts to save the environment. Today, the organization has over 75 thousand partners and 1 billion individuals fighting for change. And change is needed, especially in the Maritime Industry. (Earthday.org, n.d.)
All sectors of the industry are seeing the challenges caused by climate change. It is said that the shipping industry could see a loss of $10 billion dollars annually. Severe weather patterns have drastically affected the flow of commerce, whether it be caused by severe drought, as it has been seen in the Mississippi River that has caused a negative ripple effect in the supply chain, or the consequences of extreme weather like the bomb cyclones seen in Canada. A bomb cyclone, which is a fast-developing storm that occurs due to drops in atmospheric pressure below 24 millibars over a period of 24 hours, seems to have caused 109 containers to wash overboard in Vancouver Island, Canada, in late 2021. Given the unpredictability of these weather events, they can no longer simply be ignored as one-time events that happen every few years. Narin Phol, Maersk’s president for North America, stated in an interview for CNBC, “We firmly believe that climate change poses a great threat to the shipping industry and the consumer overall. We are definitely seeing disruption, disruption happening all the time.” (Olick, 2023)
The cruise industry is seeing the consequences of climate change as well. Over the course of time, larger and larger ships are being made. Giant vessels, that are basically mobile cities holding thousands, travel daily to all parts of the world. They are engineering marvels to be sure, but they cannot escape the grasp of climate change. As larger ships are launched, they produce more greenhouse emissions that have a noticeable effect on the environment. One large ship alone can release the same amount of gas emissions as over ten thousand cars. Cruise lines like Hurtigruten, which is based out of Norway, are finding new technology to create zero emission cruise ships. All future vessels they create will no longer use fossil fuels to run, which is a very promising sign that hopefully other companies will duplicate. They expect to have vessels running on this new technology by 2030. (Garza, 2023) Other companies are using a fossil fuel named LNG which produces 20% less CO2 emissions in comparison to fuel oil and coal.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Have a revamped climate action strategy. They have a target to lower the gas emissions of their vessels fleetwide, hopefully by 2050, with a commitment to decarbonization. Harry Sommer, president, and chief executive officer-elect of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Stated, “We are proud to further refine and strengthen our climate action strategy and commitments including by setting milestone GHG intensity reduction targets which will guide us on our ambitious pursuit of net zero by 2050.” (Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., 2023) Costa Cruises meanwhile is doing their part by collaborating with a transportation company named LC3 Transporti, who also use LNG fueled vehicles to send provisions and technical supplies to the cruise ship, Costa Firenze. (McGillivray, 2023)
Small steps are being taken by many companies to become greener, but not fast enough. The first few months of 2023 were the warmest ever recorded. January saw the global surface temperature at 2.29°F (1.27°C) above last century’s global average of 54.0°F (12.2°C). This year has a 99% chance of being in the top 5 warmest years on record as well. (NOAA , 2024) Climate change is exponentially getting worse each year, and the timeline is counting down. Real change needs to happen across the industry to help slow down the process. Companies not just in the Maritime Industry, but in other economic sectors must do their part soon, otherwise we may look upon a future where a runaway greenhouse effect will occur. We only need to look at our sister planet, Venus, to see the catastrophic effects of a Runaway Greenhouse effect. Lowering CO2 emissions globally across all vessels would significantly help turn the tides in our favor, if everyone cooperates and does their part, fast. We shall see if this will ever become a reality.
References
Earthday.org. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from Earthday.org: https://www.earthday.org/about-us/
Garza, A. d. (2023, June 13). The Cruise Industry Is On a Course For Climate Disaster. Retrieved from Time: https://time.com/6285915/cruise-industry-climate-action-emissions-passengers/
McGillivray, R. (2023, May 17). Carnival-Owned Brand Cuts Emissions with Green Transport. Retrieved from Cruise Hive: https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-owned-brand-cuts-emissions-with-green-transport/101635
NOAA . (2024, February 16). Global climate summary for January 2024. Retrieved from Climate.gov: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/global-climate-summary-january-2024
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (2023, April 24). Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Charts a Path towards Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions with New Short- and Near-Term Targets. Retrieved from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.: https://www.nclhltd.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/543/norwegian-cruise-line-holdings-charts-a-path-towards-net
Olick, D. (2023, October 20). Shipping industry could lose $10 billion a year battling climate change by 2050. Retrieved from CNBC.COM: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/climate-change-to-cost-shipping-industry-10-billion-a-year-by-2050.html