The need to apply innovative technologies for maximizing the efficiency and minimizing the carbon footprint of sewage treatment plants has upgraded sewage sludge management to a highly sophisticated research and development sector. Sewage sludge cannot be regarded solely as 'waste'; it is a renewable resource for energy and material recovery. From this perspective, legislation on sewage sludge management tends to incorporate issues related to environmental protection, public health, climate change impacts and socio-economic benefits. This paper reviews the existing legislative frameworks and policies on sewage sludge management in various countries, highlighting the common ground as well as the different priorities in all cases studied. More specifically, the key features of legislation regarding sludge management in developed countries such as the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union (EU27) are discussed.

Climate change is among the greatest environmental threats facing the globe today and the abatement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is concerning all the industrial sectors contributing to the problem. The maritime transport sector has already implemented several measures for energy efficiency for the reduction of its GHG emissions, including both vessels and ports. This paper focuses on the prospects and challenges facing the development of a port energy management system. It analyzes the main factors which exert an impact on such a plan and that need to be taken into account for its successful implementation. A SWOT/PESTLE analysis is utilized for the identification of the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors that have a positive or negative effect on the adoption and successful implementation of a port energy management system. This analysis is based on empirical data from two leading North-European port authorities. Given the fact that ports are currently focusing on the reduction of their energy consumption, this paper’s results have particular significance in that they could enlighten and inform the adoption of a port energy management plan within ports.

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This paper aims to assess the direct economic impact on the maritime sector from its inclusion in the European Union-Emission Trading System (EU-ETS). The Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) data are analysed for the estimation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within the European Economic Area (EEA). The economic impact assessment model used is scenario-based, and includes different price incentives, geographical coverage and emission allowances allocation methods. According to our findings, in case the emission allowances are fully auctioned or partially free allocated on the basis of a uniform benchmark, the increased costs would be disproportional among the maritime segments. Such a scheme would penalise Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) and Roll-On/Roll-Off/Passenger (RoPax) segments due their high fuel consumption per transport work in relation to oil tankers and bulkers. The establishment of differentiated benchmarks per segment seems to be a prerequisite for the effective inclusion of shipping in the EU-ETS that will reward energy efficient vessels in each segment and avoid competition distortion within the maritime industry.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify the various initiatives developed and implemented across the globe for the abatement of maritime air emissions. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, an extensive survey of various sources was conducted, including the official reports of international and regional institutions, government policy documents, port authority websites, classification society pages, private firms’ sites and the academic literature. The initiatives were then categorized in accordance with the classification of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and analyzed using the SPSS Statistics software to give some insight into their frequencies and the interrelationships between them. Findings This exploratory review resulted in the establishment of a comprehensive global database of initiatives encouraged by the whole range of shipping stakeholders and decision-makers for the reduction of shipping air emissions. According to the findings, economic incentives that provide motivation for the adoption of less environmentally damaging practices are the most commonly used initiative, followed by infrastructure investments and informative policies. Research limitations/implications The results provide implications for further research that include an in-depth analysis of ports’ policies, as well as an evaluation of initiatives applied on a large scale to map their emissions reduction potential for shipping. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper is the identification and analysis of all the diverse initiatives implemented globally in a comprehensive way and its dealing with air pollution from shipping as a whole.

Roll on–roll off (RoRo) shipping represents a maritime segment that could easily form part of an intermodal transport system, as cargo does not need to be lifted in ports; it is ‘rolled’ to and from sea. This paper investigates the operation of RoRo shipping services in Northern Europe, focusing on a set of services chartered by a major shipper whose demand has a great impact on the service design, potentially affecting the frequency of departures and even stipulating the use of specific vessels. The case of cooperation between Stora Enso, a major forest company in Sweden and Finland, and the shipping company Swedish Orient Line (SOL) is analysed, giving some insight into the way these RoRo services operate and manage to integrate successfully into sustainable intermodal transport chains. Despite various initiatives taken by different stakeholders, the level of integration of shipping in intermodal transport chains has been quite slow. This paper’s results could contribute to the identification of barriers that prevent RoRo shipping from being a viable alternative to road transport for certain transport routes and assist in the discovery of policies and incentives that could lead to developing sustainable intermodal transport chains.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is an economic community comprised of 16 countries in Southern Africa with a goal to achieve development, peace, security, and economic growth. Developing the regional freight transport system is essential for accomplishing these objectives. This paper investigates the potential of short sea shipping (SSS) in an African context, highlighting policy initiatives related to SSS development and identifying barriers and enablers of SSS to support international trade in the SADC region. According to our findings, SSS has the theoretical potential to work in the SADC given the large geographic region, projected freight volumes, and customs and trade policies the SADC region is pursuing. Such a system would have three main roles: to offer unimodal freight transport between port cities, to offer the main leg of an intermodal route, and to offer feeder services to deep sea shipping in a hub-and-spoke cycle. However, freight transport in the SADC region has a number of shortfalls that need to be addressed—of note, port competitiveness, customs provisions, and policies for intra-regional trade require impetus. Additional work is required in terms of policy to support SSS. Furthermore, considering the importance of synergies, the role of policy makers in improving trust, and developing cooperation among transport chain members needs to be explored.

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