Environmental Issues in the Maritime and Logistics Field - Research Proposal Example

A RESEARCH PAPER ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN THE MARITIME AND LOGISTICS FIELD A Research Paper on Environmental Issues in the Maritime and Logistics Field Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 8, 03, 2011 ABSTRACT The maritime and logistics field plays an instrumental role in the transport sector. The advancement in this field has greatly contributed to the growth of the shipping industry and marine transport. Despite the immense contribution of maritime logistics sector to the world economy, its advancement raises a number of issues that need to be addressed. This paper seeks to address the environmental issues associated with the marine transport sector. Pollution is the main issue of concern that the paper will point out and suggest modes of handling this issue. The paper will apply research questions to break down the issues and analyse a number of existing case studies to outline the magnitude of the issue. Conclusions drawn from this study will form a good basis for tackling environmental issues in maritime and logistics field. Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2 RATIONALE 3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4 What are the chief environmental concerns in maritime and logistics? 5 Identify the major forms of pollution and their effects. 5 1.Oil spills 6 2.Ballast Water Discharge 6 3.Exhaust Emissions 7 4.Noise pollution 7 Which practical steps are being taken to deal with the issue? 7 Which are the Sustainable solutions Maritime Logistics on Environment? 9 Expected outcomes 10 Conclusion 11 1.0 INTRODUCTION The maritime field has a long history the traces man’s effort to exploit resources due to massive water bodies. Over the years, the maritime field has made substantive progress from the simple manually driven dug-out canoes to the current sophisticated machine driven moving vessels, submarines and cruise ships. Further, maritime studies have become a key faculty of academic interest when marine and nautical studies have been advanced to develop this field (Fink 2003). The shipping industry and general marine transport continuously play an instrumental role in the world economy such that the management aspect in terms of Logistics has been incorporated in this field. Maritime logistics thus refers to the structured organization of marine transport to enhance efficiency in service delivery. Logistics is a management function forming part of the supply chain that integrates planning and execution of delivery as well as taking care of the inventory and warehouse. Such organization in the marine transport has improved efficiency in service delivery and led to tremendous growth of the shipping and marine transport industry (Gill & Johnson 2002). Growth of the marine transport industry is indeed beneficial to the economy. However, its advancement has a number of impacts to the environment. A number of environmental issues affected by maritime industry are of global concern and need to be addressed appropriately (Panetta 2003). In as much as very little research has been done in this area, the matter cannot be ignored since it can have far reaching effects to the water bodies and aquatic life ecosystem. This forms basis of the study. RATIONALE Choice of the environment is informed on a number of issues. First, the maritime industry is rapidly growing to mean that its effects on the environment are also increasing. Further, very little effort and research in this area has been done hence there is a certain level of ignorance on the grave effects of continued degradation of marine reserves and aquatic ecosystems caused by the maritime industry. There is need for the stakeholders and managers of the maritime and logistics industry to understand the environmental issues associated with their operation so as to develop relevant policies and strategies to effectively handle these issues as they steer growth of maritime industry which is also friendly to the environment (Gill & Johnson 2002). SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study seeks to cover a number of environmental issues in maritime and logistics management. It will include environmental degradation caused by maritime industry’s activities, types of environmental pollution as well as how they are dealt with. It will also contain methods and ways of curbing and reducing this menace and research into how it can be stopped. It will show the methods that are in use to reduce pollution as well as those in development. It will also bring to light other sources of fuel that may be used in the shipping industry to reduce or stop maritime pollution completely (Vidal 2009). There are many different problems that are facing the maritime and logistics industry as far as environmental conservation is concerned. Pollution is the most outstanding and will be discussed in detail at the same time providing solution for the same. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 1. Analyze the major environmental issues in the maritime and logistics management field and their specific effects. 2. Enlist the steps undertaken to handle this environmental issues and their effectiveness. 3. Outline possible solutions that can be implemented to tackle the current and future issues in the field. RESEARCH QUESTIONS There are a number of research questions that will help to point the researcher in the right direction during the research and also keep the research in track. These are:- What are the chief environmental concerns in maritime and logistics? The maritime or rather the shipping industry is instrumental in marine transport and the economy on large scale. It is however faced by the problem of environmental conservation, brought to light mainly due to the global warming problem caused by environmental pollution (Woxenius 2010). Many of the large ships used in the transport sector today produce a lot of pollutants that end up in the atmosphere as well as in the maritime environment which is detrimental to mankind’s future. It can be categorically stated pollution is the major environmental issue of concern in the maritime industry. This does not negate the fact that there are other issues bedeviling the maritime and logistics field. One such issue is the shipping impact to the aquatic bionetwork (Fink 2003). Most large sea animals such as whales, sharks, hippos and even crocodiles have been severely crushed to death by the impact of moving vessels. For instance, research has indicated that the North Atlantic whales have reduced to less than four hundred species by ship collisions which are feared to lead to their extinction (Fink 2006). Further, accidents in the marine transport are fatal to human beings and aquatic life too. The disaster of the Titanic that sink in the Atlantic ocean remains embedded in world memories on the fatalities involved in marine transport. Cargo falling from ship may contain substances that are hazardous to the sea environment. The sea animals rush to feed on the falling cargo which in most case is toxic to their system. Statistics show that over four percent of aquatic death arises from ship cargo (EelcGerdes 2004). Identify the major forms of pollution and their effects. Analysis of pollution due to marine transport can be categorized in the following clusters: - (Newton 2006) 1. Oil spills As ship navigate on water, oil from the tanks spill into the water bodies. The spill may not be copious but since ships operate daily on water, the gradual but continuous spillage accumulates in the water thereby posing a serious threat to the sea life. The crude oil spilt contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are not only poisonous to sea life but also pose a difficulty in clearing it up. One such dangerous spill was the Valdez Spill in Alaska that resulted in death of over four hundred thousand sea birds. The spill also caused death of over one hundred thousand fish as well as altering their genetic makeup (Panetta 2003). 2. Ballast Water Discharge When a ship docks for unloading or loading, sea water is taken in and discharged respectively to ensure that the ship balances during navigation while it is on transit. The ballast water discharge can lead to distortion of tanker routes. The more adverse effects of include transportation of alien sea species that are detrimental to the existing sea life. For instance, jellyfish is believed to have caused upheavals in the black sea after being brought by ballast water for Atlantic Ocean. Statistics indicate that the jellyfish consumed all seafood known as planktons. The number of fish tremendously dropped and the worst hit was the mackerel species which became extinct form over four thousand tonnes in 1984. Ballast water discharge has also contributed to the contamination of water which has led contagious diseases such as cholera (Page & Meyer 2000). 3. Exhaust Emissions The various exhaust emissions from moving vessel are the key sources of air pollution. Harmful gases such as sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the atmosphere and have far reaching effects to the environment. Research shows that only fifteen big ships are capable of emitting sulphur much more than a combination of the cars in the world. Marine transport is now believed to emit over forty per cent of sulphur to the atmosphere (EelcGerdes 2004). Sulphur dioxide is absorbed in the atmosphere to cause acid rain that causes acid rain which creates human respiratory complication when consumed (Bryman & Bell 2007). 4. Noise pollution Cruise ships are majorly responsible for noise pollution in the maritime field. The ships have the capability to hold up to five thousand passengers and thousands of tonnes of cargo. The noise produced by a moving cruise ship distorts sea life and vibrations in water are equally harmful to the sea biodiversity (Panetta 2003). Which practical steps are being taken to deal with the issue? Concerted efforts are been made by various governments and environmental agencies to curb environmental degradation due maritime services. Such agency is the marine policy MARPOL 73/78 AND THE Act to Prevent Pollution from ships. MARPOL identifies six areas of concern in marine pollution which are outlined as annexes and are: (Project Management Institute 1997) I. Oil spillage II. Harmful liquids and ballast water III. Harmful packaged substances IV. Garbage and sewage V. Air pollution VI. Noise Pollution The environmental agencies underscore the grave effects of continuous environmental degradation and sets up strategies to handle the issue. Taking the United States example, a number of acts and regulations have been set up to handle issues related to maritime pollution. For instance, the Act to prevent Pollution from the ship bars discharge of any waste within six kilometers of shore. Again, to curb water pollution, the United States Federal government has an established National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System to control noxious waste discharges in clean water. The naval forces and marine environmental agencies ensure enforcement of these regulations (Bouma 2004). Which are the Sustainable solutions Maritime Logistics on Environment? There are various areas of research that can be explored in this particular area. One particular one is in the area of sustainable logistics that are also environmentally friendly. In this case, research should be done to come up with scenarios whereby the logistics of maritime transportation work in such a manner that they are cost effective as well as environmentally efficient in order to reduce the pollution problem. It incorporates factors such as demand and supply, recycling options, product design as well as manufacturing (Woxenius 2010). The design stage is one area where changes can be made to optimize maritime logistics. If the design of the project is good then it will save time and resources during its implementation (De Vaus 2001). When designing products manufactures should research well into the materials they will use, in this case for building sea-going vessels. The best materials they should opt for are those that will meet the product’s purpose well but should also be good for the environment. They should consider using more generic materials as this will enable them to find them easily. It also lowers the value of unique details, a good step for the manufacturer. All optional equipment should be made standard for their products. The components used should also be of a nature that can be recycled, thus reducing the chances of them being dumped out at sea (Vidal 2009). In the logistics and manufacturing domain, the company should adopt a system of producing products to prognosis and stocking as opposed to only producing goods when they are ordered. They should also opt for lower frequencies to full loads, i.e. fewer ships should travel when fully loaded as opposed to many ships that are half-laden travelling at the same time. This helps to reduce the amount of pollution on the seas (Schmidt & Olicker 2004). The transportation domain may be used to optimize operation to reduce pollution as well. One approach that may be used here is to use faster ships to transport goods since the less time they spend at sea; the lesser chances there are of them causing pollution (Steger 2003). Ships may also opt for the option of fewer port calls, thus reducing the pollution they cause especially when unloading cargo and dumping ballast water out to sea. Another method is to combine sea and air travel to deliver goods e.g. taking products via ship to Dubai then flying them to Europe. Another approach, referred to as the transfer-the-problem approach, forces the suppliers to deliver as if close to the assembly plant. This approach leads to the product being brought as close to the pickup point as possible, reducing the distance the ship has to travel to pick it up, therefore reducing the ship’s pollution on the environment (Steger 2003). 1. Incentives to encourage development of environmentally friendly technologies This area involves giving incentives to companies that run ships which are or try to be environmentally friendly. According to Heintz, many Latin American countries are facing a need for transportation and industrial technologies and have decided to go ahead with industrialising in an environmentally friendly manner. As such, they face three major issues in the execution of this decision, which include (Heintz 2002): (i) creating an environment that attracts investment in projects involving climate friendly technology (ii) Raising awareness of climate responsive technology options (ii) Looking for investment prospects that involve these technologies that match countrywide development and comply with environmental regulations. Expected outcomes The study’s expected outcomes are: I. An elaborate understanding of environmental issues in maritime and logistics management II. A clear outline of sustainable solutions to the issue III. An overview of future strategies to handle marine pollution such as utilization of low sulphur fuels. Conclusion The maritime and logistics field is a very rich source of income, particularly in the shipping industry. However, since the global warming phenomenon came up, environmental concerns have also appeared to plague this lucrative field. Due to the nature of the fuel primarily used to drive the ships in the open seas, the exhaust fumes produce by these ships are polluting the environment, resulting in unwanted scenarios such as acid rain and global warming (Khee-Jin 2006). Accidents also happen in this industry, sometimes resulting in catastrophic oil or chemical spillages that harm the marine life in the seas. Some unscrupulous people also intentionally dump wastes and harmful products into the seas, therefore harming the ecosystem. All these issues necessitate action that will result in the reduction of pollution to the maritime environment. It also requires that humans act to protect the biodiversity of the seas for posterity (EelcGerdes 2004). As such, there is some action being taken to reduce the pollution in the world’s seas. Actions such as sanctions and incentives to encourage environmental conservation among mariners are in effect. There is however, much more room for improvement and all avenues should be explored to finally contain this problem (Meinesz 2003). The research therefore raises fundamental issues on environment especially regarding to marine pollution for management in the maritime and logistics field to consider in coming up with policies and strategies towards sustainable growth and environmental friendliness. It also offers practical approaches towards the future of environmental compliance by the maritime and logistics industry. Further, the research opens up the field of environmental concerns in view of the growth and expansion of the maritime and logistics industry and gives room for more studies in this area in order to come up with viable solutions that will enhance economic growth in the industry with causing undue harm to the marine environment and ecosystem (Bouma 2004). References Bouma, GD 2004, The Research Process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. Bryman, A & Bell, E 2007, Business Research Methods, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford. De Vaus, D 2001, Surveys in Social Research, 5th edn, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, New South Wales. EelcGerdes, L 2004, Endangered Oceans, San Diego, Greenhaven Press, California. Fink, A 2003, The Survey Kit, 2nd edn, Sage Publication, Thousand Oaks, CA. Fink, A 2006, How to Conduct Surveys: A Step-by-step Guide, 3rd edn, Sage Publication, Thousand Oaks, CA. Gill, J & Johnson, P 2002, Research Methods for Managers, Sage, London. Heintz, R 2002, Key challenges in stimulating diffusion of clean technologies in Latin America. Available from: . (March 3 2011). Khee-Jin, T 2006, Vessel-source marine pollution: the law and politics of international regulation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Meinesz, A 2003, Deep Sea Invasion: The Impact of Invasive Species, PBS, NOVA. Available from: . (March 3 2011). Newton, R. 2006, Project Management Step by Step: How to Plan and Manage a Highly Successful Project, Pearson, Australia. Page, C & Meyer, D 2000, Applied Research Design for Business Management, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Project Management Institute 1997, The Principles of Project Management, Project Management Institute, USA. Panetta, L 2003, America's living oceans: charting a course for sea change – Electronic Version, Pew Oceans Commission, London. Schmidt, C & Olicker, J 2004, World in the Balance: China Revs Up, PBS, NOVA. Available from: . (March 3 2011). Steger, M 2003, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press Inc., New York. Vidal, J 2009, Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated', Guardian. Available from: . Woxenius, J 2010, Sustainable Logistics, Maritimecenter. Available from: . (March 4 2011). Read More