Sammendrag
A review of the environmental impact of ships is presented, focusing on aspects concerned with ship building (including hull design and use of new materials), maintenance and dismantling. The main environmental issues are discussed, together with previous and on-going R&D in these areas and recommendations for future work.Improved hull design can reduce operational emissions (through reduced fuel consumption) and accidental pollution (through improved hull strength). Design for corrosion prevention/control is a key issue. Other areas of hull design involving environmental impact are wake wash and noise. In shipbuilding the main alternative materials to commonly used steels are extra high strength steels, aluminium alloys, plastics and fibre reinforced composites. The main environmental consequences concern reduction of ship weight (giving reduced impact in the ship operation phase), requirements for protection (corrosion, fire) and maintenance, and disposal/recycling of the materials at end of life. Selection of alternative materials needs to be studied in a life cycle context.The main environmental issues regarding building processes are release to water of grinding and blasting substances, coatings, etc., release to air of noise, dust, particles and gases, and production and disposal of waste. The building phase involves local environmental aspects at the shipyard. These are often subject to regulations and can largely be addressed by introducing clean production principles as in other industries. In a life cycle perspective the main factors are those that influence the operational phase, such as anti-fouling coatings and their effects on fuel economy.The most important ship maintenance processes concern the ship hull surface and the machinery and auxiliary systems.
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