Maritime Transport: The Sustainability Imperative

Sustainable Shipping: Levers of Change

“…The growing role of developing countries in trade and global economic growth is also reflected in marine transport with 60% of world seaborne trade volumes originating in developing countries while 63% were delivered to their territories (UNCTAD, 2018). New patterns of geographical distribution of production and consumption emerge altering cargo flows and directions with implications for shipping networks, fuel consumption, transport costs, ship emissions and climate change (Benamara, Hoffmann, & Youssef, 2019).…”

“…None of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) is dedicated to the thematic area of transport. In elaborating the goals the international community recognized that by integrating and mainstreaming transport considerations into a range of SDGs its cross-sectoral nature would be a critical enabler of most of them (Benamara, Hoffmann, & Youssef, 2019). 5 Maritime transport is an economic sector in its own right.…”

“…Maritime transport links almost all countries relevant supply chains, supports international production processes, carries international trade and provides access to the global markets. In addition, many sectors and industries are intimately linked to marine transport: marine equipment manufacturing, marine auxiliary services (e.g., insurance, banking, brokering), fisheries, tourism, ship building and demolition, offshore energy (Benamara, Hoffmann, & Youssef, 2019).…”

“…Maritime transport can be seen as environmentally friendly relative to other modes of transportation when measured in tonne-miles (weight per distance travelled). In conjunction with its strategic economic and social function of supporting international trade it can be viewed as an important sustainable development enabler (Benamara, Hoffmann, & Youssef, 2019). Unsustainable transport pattens, however, are linked to numerous social costs in the form of air and marine pollution, GHG emissions, resource depletion and biodiversity loss among others.…”

Green Strategic Planning Approach for International Shipping Activities

“…Communities around the world have recently made more commitments to sustainable development and are becoming more concerned about climate change following the ongoing implementation of United Nations 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement [11][12][13]. Accordingly, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is a global regulation-setting organization for international shipping, integrated the SDGs into its organization's strategic goals for 2018-2023 [14], and then requested at least 40% reduction in CO 2 emissions by 2030 from the 2008 baseline [15] and 0.50% mass limit of sulfur content in marine fuels starting from 2020 [16].…”