The Environmental Effects of Shipping

Maritime schools in the Philippines should not only produce competent and able seamen that could face any threats and hurdles during their expeditions but also have compassion for the environment.

Shipping plays an important role in the transport of goods both in global economy. The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) says in their Regional State of the Coast Report for the Western Indian Ocean published on June 2015. Almost 90 per cent of goods are transferred via oceans and seas. However, unknown to others, especially those who are not environmentalists at heart, shipping activities have a great impact in our environment.

The said report identified the negative environmental impacts of the shipping industry such as…

Pollution resulting from the ship’s day-to-day activities

It has been all over the news, the issue about Shell’s Arctic Challenger just this June 2015. The ship was assigned to drill oil in the Arctic. Oil exploratory drillings are not new but it is quite alarming that we have to disturb the most isolated places in the planet as if it is our last resort. Of course, environmental activists cried foul and even hang on to the ship’s anchor for 63 hours to prevent it from leaving.

Aside from the danger of an oil spill, the black soot emitted by ship’s smokestacks contributes to polar ice sheet melting, Earthjustice says. Let us not forget, drilling also worsens global warming because of the toxic gases from ships like sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. As for the Arctic Challenger, the drilling activity commenced.

Pollution as result of accidents

We don’t have to look outside our borders to cite an example. One of the notable sea accidents happened at Tubbataha Reef, a Unesco World Heritage Site, last January 17, 2013 caused by the 68-meter USS Guardian. The estimated damage is at least 2,345 square meters. Only this year on January 20th, the Philippines received a compensation of $ 1.97 M (P87 M) from the US government. A measly amount compared to the damage it caused because it would take a generation for the reef to regrow.

Coral reefs serve as a shelter, a breeding and a feeding ground, and a nursery for thousands of aquatic species. It is a potential food source for the years to come—that is, if the marine ecosystem remains intact.

Translocation of invasive alien species via ballast water and hull-fouling

Ballast water is necessary to the ship’s daily operations as it provides stability by filling the ballast tanks with water as it unloads cargo and releases it after a new cargo is loaded. Unfortunately, it is not just ocean water; a million of alien marine species hitchhike when they do this. One other thing is hull-fouling. It happens when microscopic and aquatic animals, i.e. barnacles, mussels, sponges, algae and sea squirts, stick in the ship’s hull thus fouling it.

What are the threats these stowaways bring once the ship transfers into a different location? According to UNEP’s “Invasive Alien Species – A growing threat in Regional Seas” report, once invasive alien species colonized a new area it could compete against the food source of indigenous species; affect the fisheries production; and cause harmful algal blooms that may result to shellfish poisoning.

Maritime training centers in the Philippines don’t have enough powers to impose changes in the system alone. They could introduce new lessons discussing the harmful effects of shipping to their students and how it could be prevented. But it should be an international effort and not just proposed by few concerned individuals. We have already abused our land’s natural resources. Do we need to endanger our seas and oceans as well?