The Compliance Challenges in Emissions Control Regulations to Reduce Air Pollution from Shipping

One of the thorny problems perplexing the maritime industry is to comply with existing and soon-to-be-enacted regulations towards emissions reduction from shipping. This problem has been discussed in this study under three viewpoints: i) the marine engine efficiency, ii) the decision-making process for selecting the technologies for reducing air emissions from shipping and iii) the challenges in the shipping industry during the era of digitalization. In the section of the marine engine efficiency, the fundamental laws of thermodynamics in relation to a Carnot cycle/heat engine have been illustrated to show the maximum efficiency that an engine can achieve within its operational temperature range. In the section of the decision-making process, the selection of technologies for reducing emissions from shipping, a variety of possible options has been discussed: e.g. using compliant fuels with low sulphur content in the current machinery; integrating an emission abatement technology such as marine scrubber as an after-treatment device; opting for alternative fuels such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or Methanol and future ship propulsion with an array of alternatives. Nevertheless, it can be a challenge for decision-makers (shipowners and operators) to select the most suitable alternatives for regulatory compliance in reducing emissions from shipping. It involves with multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) in which a number of alternative options are assessed with regard to multiple factors and sub-factors as described in this study. In the section of the challenges for the shipping industry in the era of digitalization, Advanced Data Analytics for ship performance monitoring is considered to overcome the handling challenges in large-scale ship performance and navigation data sets.