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Floods, storms, scorching heat, climate change and its consequences will be felt all over the world this summer. Again and again in climate display: Freighters, tankers and cruise ships are often faced with comparisons to cars on the internet. “The 15 largest luxury airliners are blowing more dirt into the air than any car in the world,” he says. Or: “A cruise smells like five million cars!”. However, this is usually published not to burden the transport, but to lighten the load on the cars. So can you do that with such a comparison? Blick did some research.
Let’s take a survey circulating on social media like “47 large cruise ships are dirtier than Europe’s 260 million cars”. If you look at this study of the journal “Transport and Environment”, it becomes clear: the issue is not about CO2 or nitrogen oxides, but not sulfur dioxide. It makes sense for ships to emit more than that: they use sulphurous heavy oil, and cars use sulphur-free fuel, which was once put to use due to “acid rain” to reduce the return of forests. The comparison stumbles upon itself.
mostly sulfur dioxide
This does not launder ships in any way: its emissions are very high, especially when it comes to sulfur dioxide. However, comparisons with absolute numbers and only a single pollutant are lagging and not suitable for shooting against e-mobility, for example. The German Union for Conservation of Nature (Nabu) has also fallen into the trap of comparison. The popular internet saying “The 15 biggest ships pollute the air like the 760 million cars in the world” is based on a statement by Nabu. According to the German “Zeit” it was only about sulfur dioxide. And the comparison was already wrong in 2012 because the number of cars was too low at 250 million.
Another Nabu comparison was: “An ocean liner emits pollutants during a voyage like five million cars on the same route.” “Zeit” analyzed the figures: Nabu was counting in units of time rather than distance. If you calculate the passenger kilometers correctly, you will get a different value: instead of “like 5 million cars” it should be “like close to 100 cars”. Bad enough, but completely different relationships than those on social media.
Freighters are more economical than cars
Because ships can only be compared with cars when their carrying capacity is taken into account. A cruise giant like “Harmony of the Seas” travels 1000 kilometers per day with 8700 people, statistically, a vehicle carrying 1.2 people travels an average of 36 kilometers. In other words: the ship carries 200,000 cars. Let’s calculate the consumption. “Hope of the Seas” consumes 330,000 liters per day. Converted to 1.2 people, that is, 4.6 l per 100 km. So it’s like a compact diesel.
With a container giant in the 20,000 TEU class (like “Ever Given” stranded in the Suez Canal in 2020) this becomes even clearer. The capacity of the “MSC Oscar” is 20,000 TEU (1 TEU corresponds to a 20 feet container). For 1000 kilometers in 24 hours, 280,000 liters are needed. Converted to container, i.e. 1.4 l per 100 km. A truck can carry up to two TEUs of 28 l per 100 km. This is equivalent to 14 liters per 100 km per container; that is ten times more!
Ships were protected for too long
Yes, ships are polluting, especially when it comes to sulfur dioxide and particulate matter; nothing to sugarcoat. Immediate action is needed. Shipping was long avoided because it was difficult to arrange: our car could be registered in Panama and not filled in Indonesia – but a freighter could. Protecting the environment costs money, but few customers are willing to pay more for an electric toothbrush from China or forego the trip so their freighters are more ecological. But: When calculated based on transport performance, ships are comparatively better than the hearty headlines with absolute numbers – especially CO when it comes to climate sinners.2. In other words: Ships have environmental issues, but you can’t clear cars with such comparisons.
After all, something is happening in shipping: The sulfur content in heavy fuel oil has been reduced from 3.5 percent worldwide to 0.5 percent in 2020, with the encouragement of the EU. It’s still well above our car diesel (0.001%), but at least it’s a start. In many ports, as well as in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, it has now become mandatory to clean the exhaust gas against nitrogen oxides. But even though the whole problem has been exacerbated by the cruise boom and global trade, cars remain the biggest culprit overall. from CO2According to the research, 10 to 15 percent of global emissions in the transport sector come from airplanes, 1 to 2 percent from trains and 10 to 15 percent from ships. But 70 to 80 percent of cars and trucks.
Source: Blick
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
