A Study on the Framework for Estimating Ship Air Pollutant Emissions—Focusing on Ports of South Korea

Abstract

With the globalization of trade and the rapid development of the world economy, the problem of air pollution emissions produced by shipping is becoming more serious. The exhaust gas emitted by ships has become a significant source of air pollution in ocean and coastal areas. In recent years, governments have paid more attention to shipping emissions as a major source of environmental problems. Establishing ship emission inventories plays an important role in formulating ship emission control measures and regulations. This study aimed to propose a framework for calculating ship air pollutant emissions by comprehensively considering processes and methods officially used in developed countries such as the US and those in the EU, as well as South Korean circumstances and available data sets. The framework was divided into three sections: defining the inventory, data collection and analysis of the data, and ship air pollutant emission estimation. The results of this study provided a standard for South Korean domestic port emission inventories. A case study focused on the Gwangyang and Yeosu Ports, one of the leading port areas in South Korea, using adaptive data collection and emission-calculation processes. This study can be used as guidelines when the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) or the Ministry of Environment (MOE) adopts a standard process in South Korea in the near future. Subsequently, it is necessary to establish a national port emission management system to respond to world environmental changes.