ECOSONOS Emissions of CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x from ships: final report

The objective of this study is to quantify an estimate of ship’s aerial emissions in the Belgian part of the North Sea, including the 4 most important Belgian ports: Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend and Zeebrugge and this for the period from April 2003 to March 2004. This quantification gives an overview of ship’s aerial emission of CO2, SO2 and NOx and can be used as an input to the discussions on regulating shipping emissions in the framework of combating air pollution and climate change. First an overview is given of existing and upcoming international standards and reporting requirements; followed by the current emission inventories in use in Belgium. Next, a new method is used to estimate the emissions of shipping. The method classifies ships into 15 classes and 2 different calculation methods, depending on the best available data: for 11 types of merchant ships, dredgers and tugs in non-operational condition and fishery (emissions by the Belgian fishing fleet in the Belgian part of the North Sea) a bottom-up approach is applied, for dredgers and tugs in operational condition a top-down approach is used. For LNG vessels we have to take the specific engine characteristics into account. Further, we also make a distinction between at sea and in port emissions, because of different sailing operations (whether cruising, at berth, manoeuvring or at anchor). In the bottom-up approach, the engine loads are the most significant information and can be used to estimate the subsequent emissions, together with information on sailing times and emission factors. The top-down approach allows for a more simple calculation on the basis of fuel consumption and related emission factors. When adding the total at sea and in port emission estimates from both the bottom-up and top-down approach we have the total estimate of ship’s aerial emission in the Belgian part of the North Sea and the 4 most important ports. Unfortunately, a lack of data (due to a limited coverage of ship registration at the time) has not allowed to incorporate emissions from transit ships, passing the Belgian North Sea in the North bound Traffic Separation Scheme