Assessment of environmental sustainability of maritime sector

The maritime sector has a vital role to play as an indispensable element in terms of socio-economic development and as a potential source of excellent employment opportunities, with several million people currently engaged in activities and companies directly and indirectly related to oceans and seas worldwide. The prime objectives of the study are to review the activities and the potential of the maritime sector both globally and nationally. The study further assesses environmental impacts from ships, including past, present, and future fuel consumption and emission status. It also proposes some strategies for emission control for sustainable growth of the sector. The global CO₂ emissions from shipping estimated based on bunker sales were about 270 Tg (CO₂) in 1955 and 600 Tg in 2005.The corresponding SO₂ emissions were approximately 3.8 Tg in 1955 and 8.0 Tg in 2005.The study reveals that ship emissions might affect the levels of ozone, sulfate, nitrate, NO₂, NMVOCs, SO₂, and OH, which may potentially cause problems in coastal areas and harbours. Under these circumstances, this article reviews the status of pollution control measures in the shipping sector. Moreover, the need to understand the global ecosystems and environment, as well as their necessary conservation, to find the more efficient mechanisms to deal with phenomena such as climate change, and so on have made research and study of the maritime environment a high priority issue. In addition, the maritime transportation sector has its share of responsibility to reduce carbon emission and take corrective and innovative measures on a global scale to minimize energy usages.