The Impact of Marine Traffic on the Environment

Globalizacija i rast svjetske trgovine uzrokovali su jak razvoj prijevoza, a to se također odnosi i na pomorski promet. Njime se prevozi najveći udio robe i dobara u svijetu, no nije bez ekoloških poteškoća. Problemi se javljaju s izljevima nafte u mora koja su, kumulativno gledajući jako štetna; s ispuštanjem štetnih otpadnih voda u okoliš i narušavanjem atraktivnosti; s razmjenom balastnih voda koje sa sobom nose potencijalne invazivne vrste; s morskim otpadom koji u većoj mjeri ne dolazi od brodova, ali šteti organizmima i može uzrokovati štete na plovilima; s emisijom dušikovih i sumporovih oksida te čestica koje smanjuju kvalitetu zraka, pogotovo u okolici luka. Specifičnije poteškoće stvara destrukcija brodova, koja u razvijajućim sredinama degradira okoliš i nudi poslove u lošim radnim uvjetima, te kružni promet koji brodove čini putujućim hotelom s velikom proizvodnjom zagađenja. To su primjeri koji će se obraditi u ovome radu kako bi se vidjelo koliko su teške njihove posljedice, ali isto tako treba uvidjeti kako ide put prema održivosti i kako pomorski promet može postati čišćim.Globalization and the growth of world trade have caused a strong development of transport, and the same applies to maritime traffic. It transports the world's largest share of goods, but it isn't without any environmental difficulties. Problems arise with oil spills to the sea that are cumulatively very damaging; with the discharge of harmful wastewater into the environment and impairment of attractiveness; with the exchange of ballast water that carries potential invasive species with it; with marine waste that doesn’t majorly come from ships but harms organisms and can cause damage to vessels; with emissions of nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides and particulate matter that worsen the air quality, especially around ports. More specific difficulties come with ship-breaking, which degrades the environment and offers jobs in poor working conditions in developing countries, and cruises, which make ships into traveling hotels with large amounts of pollution. These are the examples that will be addressed in this thesis to see how severe their consequences are, but it is also necessary to see how the road to sustainability is going and how maritime transport can become cleaner