Environmental Issues in the Maritime and Logistics Field - 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 2, 04, 2011 Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Literature Review 2 Articles Review and Analysis 3 Scope and Research Methodology 3 Limitations of the Articles 5 Findings 6 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Environmental Issues in the Maritime and Logistics Field Literature Review The greatest tragedy and difficult to ever confront humanity throughout its evolutionary channel and one that threateningly promises to cause total destruction of the human race probably is the issue of environmental conservation. In this dispensation of technological advancement through such areas as mechanization, there are many different machines that have been created whose effects is as threatening as their good is liberating. It then forms some sort of technological – environmental standoff sending the scientists, engineers and designers into frantic efforts to come up with some sort of compromise to merge the two concerns in a way that affords acceptable good with minimal destruction (Andersen & Petersen 1996). One of these areas is the maritime industry. Maritime industry includes all ventures engaged in the industry of designing, building, manufacturing, obtaining, operating, providing, renovating and/or maintain vessels, or constituent parts thereof: of administering and/or managing shipping lines and marine repair shops, customs brokerage services, shipyards, marine railways, dry docks, shipping and freight forwarding services (Eelco 2005). Below is a literature review of environmental issues in maritime and logistics field showing the sources that will be used for the paper and critical analysis of the gems that are carried by each of these articles as well as including insights and thoughts from different authorities on the issue. Articles Review and Analysis Scope and Research Methodology There are different articles taken for review regarding their scope, research methodology, findings and limitations. These articles are discussed and critiqued in the foregoing discussion. For studies that aim at resuming summaries and computations, Thomas, G in his article How to Do Your Research Project: A Guide for Students in Education and Applied Social Science (2009) surmises that the data collection in such as study should specifically be made of primary data as well as secondary data and every specific objective for the research should utilize different proportions of each form of data in a varying manner (Thomas 2009). Sekaran (2003) states that a descriptive survey approach is for different purposes some of which include: studying, describing, exploring and analyzing relationships which are contained among subjects that are gathered geographically. This means therefore that a survey is the most applicable method that can be used to capture and compare the likely effects caused by environmental issues on maritime and logistics field (De Vaus 2002). The study in doing so, adopts a quantitative approach, and this is because parameters regarding socio-economic, cultural and political issues can be assessed using empirical data (Sekaran 2003). Therefore a quantitative approach is found to be the best suited approach in meeting the research objectives (Project Management Institute 1997). In addition, Veal AJ in his article Business Research Methods: A Managerial Approach (2005) maintains that simple random and stratified sampling procedures are usually used in selecting most study sample. He adds that stratified random sampling in many cases serves the purpose of ensuring that subgroups in a given population are proportionally represented while on the other hand simple random sampling selects respondents within a given subgroups basing its surmises entirely on chance (Veal 2005). Primary and secondary data is another element that is covered in the scope of these articles. In the article Social Research Methods — Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches by Neuman, W, L (2006), primary data according to Neuman (2006) is usually collected by questionnaires, which include structured and unstructured questions, and interviews, which are used to collect data immediately (Neuman 2006, p. 23). On his side, Kumar (2005) says that secondary data is collected through a review of published and unpublished materials, such as articles, seminar papers, government policy papers, conference proceedings, business journals, textbooks, statistical abstracts, newspapers and periodicals (Kumar 2005, p. 33). Kerzner finishes by saying that secondary sources are also useful as the suggestions of different authors on the research topic could be adopted and/or modified to recommend the way forward for service marketing approaches relating to the research topic (Kerzner 2006, p. 66). The main research approaches within social science, according to Henninger, M (2008) are qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative research aims at gathering, analyzing and measuring data from a large sample to see if there is any relation between different variables (Henninger 2008, p. 41). The way in which qualitative research attains a deeper understanding of a given research product is by collection and analysis of data collected, respondents’ ideas, attitudes and feelings among others. According to Neelankavil, J, P in his article International Business Research (2007), qualitative research methods are mainly phenomenological, and that the purpose of qualitative research is to understand the current situation from the participants’ perspective (Neelankavil 2007, p. 111). Conversely, quantitative research is more concerned with quantifying data collected through research methodology. According to Applied Research Design for Business Management by Page, C & Meyer, D (2000) it examines and interprets data that is quantifiable, measurable and finite. Acquisition of quantitative data can be obtained in different ways. These ways include experimentation, testing and calculation. The results are usually displayed statistically (Page & Meyer 2000, p. 136). Two common research approaches are the inductive approach and the deductive approach. The article The Handbook of Project Management: A Practical Guide to Effective Policies and Procedures by Young, TL (1996) surmises that in the inductive approach, the researcher makes specific observations from the collected data and arrives at a new theory by observation and hypothesis. Conversely, the deductive approach begins the research process by reviewing and gathering theory, and then collecting data and drawing conclusions (Cooksey 1997, p. 34 – 35). However, these two research approaches under normal circumstances do not usually have mutual exclusivity and therefore a research study may have elements of both (Young 1996). Limitations of the Articles The article Applied Research Design for Business Management by Page, C & Meyer, D (2000) recommends descriptive survey, which is appropriate in collecting information about people, attitudes, opinions, habits or social and political issues regarding governance, social justice and adherence to human rights but fails to take into account the fact regarding the authenticity of data collected (Page & Meyer 2000, p. 90). According to Newton, R in the article Project Management Step by Step: How to Plan and Manage a Highly Successful Project (2006) a descriptive survey seeks insight into phenomena as a means of providing basic information in an area of study (Newton 2006, p. 71). One limitation of using a descriptive survey research method is that a very large descriptive survey may give superficial results. Alternatively, small scale descriptive surveys with an emphasis on “qualitative” or “rich” detail have the limitation of poor generalisability (Newton 2006, p. 87). In such small surveys it is difficult to know how far the results can be applied elsewhere. Findings The findings of these articles have incredible insights that go a long way in assisting in the understanding of the effect of environmental issues in maritime and logistics field. These issues as it was gathered from these articles have sent the designers into overdrive to ensure that all the innovations that threaten the safety of the environment are curbed to acceptable levels. To begin with, in the article Planning for Representative Marine Protected Areas (Day & Roff 2000), it is recorded that maritime transport has seen numerous major technical innovations endeavoring at advancing the accomplishment of ships or their access to port amenities, remarkably in the 20th century. They include (Day & Roff 2000): Size - The last century has witnessed increase of the number of ships and their standard size. Size is a widespread denominator for ships, it expresses kinds and capacity. Even though the smallest size for cost effectual bulk management is anticipated to be around 1,000 load tons, economies of scale have pressed for bigger ship sizes to service transport requirements. For ship owners, the underlying principle for bigger ships entails reduced maintenance cost, crew, insurance, berthing and fuel. Speed - The standard speed of ships is approximately 15 knots. Under such conditions a ship would voyage about 575 km per day. Recently ships can voyage at speeds between 25 knots to 30 knots, but it is exceptional that a passenger ship will voyage faster than 25 knots because of energy constraints (Harrabin 2003). Expertise of Ships - Economies of scales are frequently associated with expertise. Both courses of action have significantly customized maritime services. In time, ships became more and more specific to consist of all-purpose cargo ships, container ship, mineral carriers, bulk carriers, grain carriers and tankers. Ship Makes - Ship makes has considerably enhanced from timber hulls, to timber hulls with metal armatures, to metal hulls and to metal, aluminum and complex materials hulls. Varying on its density, a ship can require between 4 months for a container and crude carriers and 1 year for cruise ship to build (Heintz 2002). Mechanization - Different mechanization expertise likely include computer assistant navigation, self-unloading ships and global positioning systems. The common outcome of mechanization has been lesser crews being compelled to manage larger ships. The paper sets out to determine the main environmental concerns in the shipping transport industry which according to secondary data obtained from other sources is a big problem. According to Woxenius (2010) in the article Sustainable Logistics, the threat posed by ship pollution due to the increasing globalization of the shipping trade finds much attention from regulation bodies that require new ships to be built with special features that reduce such pollution to air and the sea. Such pollutions are those caused by oil spills which due to their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are hard to clean and do not decompose easily cause great devastations to aquatic life (Woxenius 2010). Given the 1 - 3.5 million barrels that most cruise ships carry, it has to be considered a great threat to the environment in this regard. The other pollution is caused by ballast water which is the seawater pumped in the hull compartments to help the vessel stabilize and balance when it is unloading cargo and then pumped out of the compartments during loading (Vidal 2009). When the water is pumped out, it comes out contaminated with the vessel’s oil that equally affects aquatic life mostly the benign jellyfish. This bilge water can also spread diseases like in human pathogens and toxins capable of causing human and marine health complications (Schmidt & Olicker 2004). The third and equally serious environmental threat in pollution is exhaust emissions that cause significant air pollution. There are equally great insights regarding some suggested ways of dealing with these different issues regarding the environment. Different articles referenced herein discuss the common approaches that are applicable in dealing with environmental challenges facing the maritime and logistics industry (Meinesz 2003). For instance, owing to these environmental threats, Eelco (2005) indicates that the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation requires that all newly made ships and old ships to have design measures and specifications that reduce pollution they cause on the environment (Eelco 2005). To counter these remarkable pollution challenges caused by a typical ship, it is recommended that ships have specifications to facilitate protection of the environment against such issues. Harrabin points out that some vessels have added General Electric’s alternative engine technology (gas turbine) which reduce nitrous oxide emissions by 80 percent and sulfur oxide by 98 percent and these specifications as an added relaxation bonus make the engine less noisy than traditional engines (Harrabin 2003, p. 31). To reduce the air pollution caused by ships idling in port, there are different ways that ships can be designed and built. They can have engines that have the capacity to be turned off when they get docked and during that time be plugged in a land-based hydro-electric plant designed for such purposes in the port (Vidal 2009). Inasmuch as installation of this facility is high (close to the tune of $4.5 million when it was installed in Oita Port in 1999), considering the environmental impact it is saving the shipping industry under the auspice of Nippon Steel Corporation, it is worth of the environmental investment (Vidal 2009). Schmidt & Olicker (2004) suggest that such vessels may have further capabilities that are environment friendly such as recycling the exhaust, mixing it with fresh air and sucking it back into the engine for reuse. This generally reduces engine emissions in addition to increasing the vessel’s efficiency by as much as 10 – 15 percent (Schmidt & Olicker 2004). There is also a technology that affords vessels to use a special silicon-based paint instead of biocides to keep barnacles off the hull which increases the ship’s efficiency by reducing the drag and at the same time protect the ocean from biocides that are prone to leak (Khee-Jin 2006). Quantified, the silicone paint covering the part of the hull below the waterline is responsible of lowering the water drag so much so to be able to annually save as much as about 1 200 tons of fuel according to (Day & Roff 2000). In the spirit of going green as a specific response to environmental issues in the industry, the maritime industry should equally not be left behind. Radov (2005) in his article Greening Motorways of the Sea gives great insights on this regard. He suggests that solar panels the size of jumbo jets retro-fitted to the vessel’s sails may be used to supplement its electric energy. These long aluminum sails “which may be over 30 meters long are usually covered with photovoltaic panels harness the wind to cut fuel costs between 10 to 25 percent and the sun to meet five percent of such ships’ energy requirements” (Radov 2005, p. 121). As the chief designer of the Brazilian Maru (an example of a ship that is fitted with this technology) Dr. Robert Dane postulated: The fitted sails are expected to pay for themselves in fuel saving within four years. They do not require any special training to operate since they have a computer linked to the ship’s navigation system which automatically positions the sails to catch breeze and help the ship sail along. These solar panels further provide power to crew quarters and navigation electronics. As for the ship’s ballast, rechargeable batteries are used to drive it electronically with provisions of reversing the screws to recharge the batteries in times when the wind is really stiff (Radov 2005, p. 1). The other approach that may be fitted to deal with the issue of electric consumption and power usage, is to have maritime vessels designed to enable faster and less labour-intensive methods of loading cargo. Double articulation cranes with the capacity to load 500 – 1 500 tons per hour coupled with gantry cranes that load cargo even faster hitting 2 000 tons within an hour are some of the main loading methods that are prospective to handle this issue (Radov 2005). Conveyor belts for relatively smaller cargo may also be used with vessels that have both start-up and shutdown procedures with load rates of up to1 000 tons per hour (Khee-Jin 2006). Conclusion In conclusion, there are many environmental concerns that come into play in the maritime and logistics industry. These concerns cannot be overlooked in a world that is continually becoming sensitive to the looming destruction that is being continually occasioned by environmental degradation. This makes the industry very volatile and requiring a lot of keenness in its designs, innovations and policy formulation so that is specifically equipped properly to deal with these challenges. It is also worth noting that the chief benefit of maritime shipping is perceptibly its economies of scale, earning it the cheapest per item of all shipping approaches, which responds satisfactorily for heavy industrialized actions. Alternatively, maritime shipping has one of the maximum entry costs of the transportation area. On average, a ship has a profitable life from 15 to 20 years and thus characterizes an important savings that ought to be amortized. For example, a Panama containership can charge $50,000 per day to function with mainly of the expenditures linked to fuel and port costs (Panetta 2003). This is a clear indication that the industry is a greatly viable venture for investment and economic growth and therefore the environmental concerns that have been raised and are observable as threats in the industry have to be curbed is the industry is to remain alive in today’s time and age. Bibliography Andersen, B & Petersen, P 1996, The Benchmarking Handbook: Step by Step, Chapman & Hall, London. Cooksey, RW 1997, Statistics for Behavioural and Social Research: A Descriptive Handbook, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Day, J & Roff, J 2000, ‘Planning for Representative Marine Protected Areas’, World Wildlife Fund Canada, viewed 2 April 2011, . De Vaus, D 2002, Surveys in Social Research, 5th edn, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, New South Wales. Eelco, L 2005, Greening Motorways of the Sea, T&E 05/4, Stockholm: Sweden, viewed 2 April 2011, . Harrabin, R 2003, EU faces Ship Clean-up Call, BBC News, viewed 2 April 2011, . Heintz, R 2002, Key Challenges in Stimulating Diffusion of Clean Technologies in Latin America, viewed 2 April 2011, . Henninger, M 2008, The Hidden Web: Finding Quality Information on the Net, 2nd edn, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. Kerzner, H 2006, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, John Wiley & Sons, USA. Khee-Jin, T 2006, Vessel-Source Marine Pollution: The Law and Politics of International Regulation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Kumar, R 2005, Research Methodology: A Step-by-step Guide for Beginners, 2nd edn, SAGE, London. Meinesz, A 2003, Deep Sea Invasion: The Impact of Invasive Species, PBS: NOVA, viewed 4 February 2011, . Neelankavil, J, P 2007, ‘International Business Research’, Lloyd’s List Maritime Asia, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 71 – 77. Neuman, W, L 2006, ‘Social Research Methods — Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches’, Business Review Weekly, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 12 – 14. 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