Evaluation of Ship Pollutant Emissions in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

Abstract

The role of the shipping industry in international logistics has been highlighted with the development of the global economy and the increase in international trade. Simultaneously, some of the environmental problems caused by shipping activities have gradually surfaced. The development of modern communication technology and marine communication equipment increased the feasibility of real-time ship dynamic data, as an information source for monitoring ship sailing states, and provided a data basis for the control of ship pollutant emissions. Based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and ship-related data obtained from the waters of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2020, the dynamic method is combined with the ship traffic emissions model STEAM2 to calculate the ship pollutant emissions in the two ports, and the relevant analysis work is conducted to evaluate the control effect of the Emission Control Area (ECA) policies on pollutant emissions. Results show that the ship pollutant emissions for CO, CXHX, NOX, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 were 1230, 510, 11,700, 6670, 248, and 232 tons, respectively. These results also indicate the possible presence of a large gap in the distribution trend of ship pollutant emissions, according to different ship types and sailing states. Moreover, the control effect of various ECA policies on pollutant emissions is not the same, that is, the impact of ECA policies on SO2 and particulate matter is the largest, and that on NOX is minimal.