Stormy days on the red colossus
They are getting bigger and bigger and travel around the globe with fewer and fewer personnel and cheaper goods: container ships have become a symbol of globalization. A trip from America to Europe [Antwerp] - and a conversation with a former Swiss captain
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"Nobody knows in detail what is transported in these containers," says Pavluk. But the containers are not stacked on top of each other by accident. In the ports, a computer calculates where each container has to be placed because of its weight and the danger of its cargo. Refrigerated containers are arranged in such a way that their refrigeration system can be monitored by the crew during the crossing. "One is full of sweet potatoes", Pavluk knows and asks rhetorically: "Do they not grow in Europe?"
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CO2 balance
The dirt catapults on the high seas
In August, the Geneva shipping company MSC christened its new flagship, the "MSC Gülsün". It is the first of eleven super freighters which are all around 400 metres long and can each load around 23,000 six-metre-long containers (the unit of measurement in the industry) at the same time.
The larger the ships, the lower the cost per container. With its new ships, MSC is intensifying the competition between shipping companies. And this at a time when the industry is already struggling with overcapacities.
According to an international agreement, ocean-going ships will have to significantly reduce their sulphur oxide emissions from next year onwards. The shipping companies will therefore have to buy more expensive fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 percent (instead of the current maximum of 3.5 percent) or - as with the "MSC Gülsün" - have a filter system installed. The industry also has to ask itself uncomfortable questions about its CO2 emissions. According to various estimates, shipping is responsible for three to four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is about the same as for air traffic.
The shipping expert Burkhard Lemper from the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics in Bremen puts this into perspective: "A ship is still the most energy-efficient means of transport. For every ton a ship transports from A to B, it emits far less greenhouse gases than an aircraft. Nevertheless, Lemper also believes that shipping must make its contribution to climate protection. Even today, the ships are already driving more slowly and thus using less fuel. New ships - such as the "MSC Gülsün" - are also becoming increasingly energy-efficient. There are also already ships that use wind rotors as auxiliary drives.
As with air traffic, however, political pressure for more drastic measures is low. Just recently, the International Maritime Organization - the global supervisory commission for shipping - decided that CO2 emissions from shipping should only be halved by 2050 (compared with 2008). This is in clear contrast to the objectives of the Paris climate agreement.
Meanwhile, shipping companies are suggesting that they will solve the problem with new ships powered by liquefied petroleum gas. This assertion is wrong: although it can reduce emissions of soot, particulate matter and sulphur oxide to practically zero, it does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Combustion of natural gas not only releases CO2 - it also releases a lot of methane into the atmosphere, which is particularly harmful to the climate.
Another form of propulsion could be hydrogen, which can be driven with practically no emissions. However, it remains to be seen whether this will prevail. For this to happen, the conventional fuel would have to be banned or massively increased in price by the states. It is also possible that we are at the beginning of a new trend in which smaller ships are equipped with electric batteries and operate autonomously without a crew or are partly steered from land.
However, conventional ships will not disappear so quickly. The "MSC Gülsün" is expected to have a service life of at least twenty years.
by Daniel Stern
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Full article in German here (WOZ 24.10.2019): Container-shipping-WOZ.pdf (460.97 kb)