Pollution prevention at ports: clearing the air

Seaports are major hubs of economic activity and of environmental pollution in coastal urban areas. Due to increasing global trade, transport of goods through ports has been steadily increasing and will likely continue to increase in the future. Evaluating air pollution impacts of ports requires consideration of numerous sources, including marine vessels, trucks, locomotives, and off-road equipment used for moving cargo. The air quality impacts of ports are significant, with particularly large emissions of diesel exhaust, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides. The health effects of these air pollutants to residents of local communities include asthma, other respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and premature mortality. In children, there are links with asthma, bronchitis, missed school days, and emergency room visits. The significance of these environmental health impacts requires aggressive efforts to mitigate the problem. Approaches to mitigation encompass a range of possibilities from currently available, low-cost approaches, to more significant investments for cleaner air. Examples of the former include restrictions on truck idling and the use of low-sulfur diesel fuel; the latter includes shore-side power for docked ships, and alternative fuels. A precautionary approach to port-related air pollution would encourage local production of goods in order to reduce marine traffic, greener design for new terminals, and state-of-the art approaches to emissions-control that have been successfully demonstrated at ports throughout the world.     

Green shipping practices in the shipping industry: Conceptualization, adoption, and implications

There have been increasing concerns about the adverse impacts on the environment caused by cargo movement in international trade. Different stakeholders ranging from shippers and carriers to government bodies and international communities have expressed worries about the environmental impacts brought by shipping related activities. The pollution and waste created in the shipping processes have imposed environmental burdens and accelerated resource depletion. The situation is set to worsen in the face of intensifying trade globalization, which has contributed to sustained growth in international shipping activities. To help protect the environment, many shipping firms have taken the initiative to find ways to lessen the environmental damage of their operations while enhancing their performance. The objective of this study is to examine the environmental awareness and the environmental measures taken in the shipping industry. We propose a conceptual framework for evaluating green shipping practices and develop several propositions stating the conditions under which shipping firms would behave in an environmentally responsible manner. We conclude with managerial and policy implications of the conceptual framework to promote green shipping practices in the shipping industry.     

国际铁矿石定价机制改变与我国铁矿石进口量变化的实证分析

随着我国对外贸易和国内钢铁企业的发展,我国铁矿石进口量大幅上升,已成为全球最大的铁矿石消费国。与此同时,国际铁矿石巨头摒弃长期协议定价机制,单方面推行季度、 指数等定价模式。为了认识国际铁矿石定价机制改变对我国铁矿石进口的影响,论文基于铁矿石进口量、 铁矿石价格、 国内原矿产量等统计指标的月度数据,通过定性分析与Granger因果检验,综合判断国际铁矿石定价机制改变与铁矿石进口量变化之间的关系。结果表明:近两年我国铁矿石进口量的短期波动频繁;国际铁矿石定价机制改变引起的铁矿石价格震荡是导致我国铁矿石进口量波动的主要动因;结合国内外形势判断,未来一段时期内我国铁矿石进口量的短期波动还会持续。     

Safety in shipping: the human element

INTRODUCTION: There are numerous diverse papers that have addressed issues within maritime safety; to date there has been no comprehensive review of this literature to aggregate the causal factors within accidents in shipping and surmise current knowledge. METHODS: This paper reviewed the literature on safety in three key areas: common themes of accidents, the influence of human error, and interventions to make shipping safer. The review included 20 studies of seafaring across the following areas: fatigue, stress, health, situation awareness, teamwork, decision-making, communication, automation, and safety culture. RESULTS: The review identifies the relative contributions of individual and organizational factors in shipping accidents, and also presents the methodological issues with previous research. CONCLUSIONS: The paper concludes that monitoring and modifying the human factors issues presented in this paper could contribute to maritime safety performance. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This review illustrates which human factors issues are prevalent in incidents therefore this gives shipping practitioners a focus for interventions.     

A Risk-Based Predictive Tool to Prevent Accidental Introductions of Nonindigenous Marine Species

Preventing the introduction of nonindigenous species (NIS) is the most efficient way to avoid the costs and impacts of biological invasions. The transport of fouling species on ship hulls is an important vector for the introduction of marine NIS. We use quantitative risk screening techniques to develop a predictive tool of the abundance and variety of organisms being transported by ocean-going yachts. We developed and calibrated an ordinal rank scale of the abundance of fouling assemblages on the hulls of international yacht hulls arriving in New Zealand. Fouling ranks were allocated to 783 international yachts that arrived in New Zealand between 2002 and 2004. Classification tree analysis was used to identify relationships between the fouling ranks and predictor variables that described the maintenance and travel history of the yachts. The fouling ranks provided reliable indications of the actual abundance and variety of fouling assemblages on the yachts and identified most (60%) yachts that had fouling on their hulls. However, classification tree models explained comparatively little of the variation in the distribution of fouling ranks (22.1%), had high misclassification rates (∼43%), and low predictive power. In agreement with other studies, the best model selected the age of the toxic antifouling paint on yacht hulls as the principal risk factor for hull fouling. Our study shows that the transport probability of fouling organisms is the result of a complex suite of interacting factors and that large sample sizes will be needed for calibration of robust risk models.     

加速环境制度变革 推动经济社会科学发展

党的十八大以科学发展观为指导,提出了推进生态文明、建设美丽中国的战略任务,生态文明是我党创造性地回答经济发展与资源环境关系问题所取得的最新理论成果,为统筹人与自然和谐发展指明了前进方向。改革开放的中国,社会经济高速发     

Industrial and wildfire aerosol pollution over world heritage Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the biggest reservoir of fresh water with unique flora and fauna; presently it is negatively affected by climate change, water warming, industrial emissions, shipping, touristic activities, and Siberian forest fires. The assessment of air pollution - related Baikal's ecosystem damage is an unsolved problem. Ship, based expedition exploring the Baikal atmospheric aerosol loading, was performed over the lake area in July 2018. We combine the aerosol near - water and vertical distributions over the Lake Baikal basin with meteorological observations and air mass transportation simulations. Lidar sounding of aerosol fields in the troposphere assesses the atmospheric background in the pristine areas and the pollution during fire-affected periods. Aerosol optical properties (scattering and spectral absorption) converted to the particle number size, black carbon (BC) mass, and Absorption Angstrom Exponent (AAE) provide the inside into aerosol characterization. Transport of industrial emissions from Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions, and wildfire plumes from Republic of Yakutia relates the pollution sources to the increased concentrations of fine particle numbers, PM₁₀ and BC mass over Southern and Northern/Central Baikal, respectively. The highest PM₁₀ and BC are associated to the harbor and touristic areas of intensive shipping and residential biomass burning. Deposition estimates applied to aerosol data exhibit the pollution fluxes to water surface over the whole Baikal area. AAE marks the impact of coal combustion, residential biomass burning, and wildfires indicating the high pollution level of the Lake Baikal ecological system .     

铁路危险品货站工人健康监护指标探讨

对铁路危险品货站空气污染状况 ,工人健康体检指标进行了研究 ,针对铁路承运危险品种类多、数量大特点 ,探讨了危险品作业场所空气污染综合监测评价指标 ,作业人员医学检查特异指标。提出空气耗氧量适宜作为危险品货站空气监测评价指标。血清前白蛋白、血清唾液酸、周围神经传导速度、外周血淋巴细胞微核、尿液致突变试验可作为危险品作业人员健康筛检特异检查指标。     

太湖湖心区的痕量金属历史沉积过程研究

以太湖湖心区的沉积物为研究对象,解析了湖心区痕量金属的沉积通量年变化,探明了湖心区痕量金属的历史沉积情况.结果表明:湖心区各样点沉积物的沉积速率从1950年以前的(0.032±0.023)g·cm-2·a-1缓慢递增到1980前后的(0.076±0.030)g·cm-2·a-1,1980年后突增明显,在2000年后达到(0.185±0.132)g·cm-2·a-1.湖心区沉积物中8种痕量金属(钒、铬、镍、铜、锌、砷、镉和铅)的含量年变化没有明显递增趋势,在20世纪80年代(对应沉积柱4~9 cm深度处)前后相差不大(变幅小于20%).但8种金属元素的沉积通量随时间推进而递增,与1980年前相比,金属沉积通量在1980年后突增倍数达到11倍以上.金属沉积通量与沉积物的沉积速率显著正相关,并与20世纪20年代以来太湖流域社会经济发展形势相一致.1980年后8种痕量金属沉积总量在湖心区西部最大,而沉积物沉积速率对湖心区南部的痕量金属沉积总量贡献最大.通过金属沉积通量可以更全面地研究太湖重金属的历史沉积过程和人为活动的干扰效应.