One third of the world’s shipping traffic passes by the Maltese islands and Sicily. These ships spew out greenhouse gases and a pollution cocktail. Prof. Ray Ellul and his team in Gozo have recently identified a link between local pollution and these large ships, as published in the University of Malta’s research magazine Think.
The team saw clear pollution peaks at their atmospheric monitoring station in the Giordan lighthouse. Every time a ship passed by Malta and the wind was blowing from the Northwest their equipment measured a sharp peak in pollutants like sulphur dioxide. This colourless gas can cause respiratory disease, pre-term births, and at very high levels, death. It also can affect plants and other animals.
The researchers measured other pollutants. Vanadium seems to be coming from both Malta and shipping. From Malta, car traffic is the biggest culprit, but “there is a larger influence from ships compared to local pollution at the Giordan lighthouse,” said research officer Alexander Smyth.
Another pollutant called POPs was also measured at the lighthouse. At low concentrations, these compounds can affect immunity, leading to more disease, and at higher concentrations they can lead to cancer.
Ozone is another mean pollutant that Ellul and his team regularly measured above EU standards. Over a 10-year study, from 1997 to 2006, ozone levels peaked above 90 parts per billion by volume (ppbv). Above 50 ppbv, ozone starts having a harmful affect on our health.
Apart from this clear link, the team used a model to see ship emissions around the Maltese islands. They collaborated with the Finnish Meteorological Institute to use their very advanced model called Steam. This model gathers all the ships’ properties, combines it with its operating environment and spews out a model to see the highest pollution indicators. Malta was surrounded.
Ellul and his team have found a potentially big contributor to the islands’ pollution, over and above its traffic problem. Yet Ellul admits that “there is no particular trend, it’s too short a timespan. What it tells us is that what we think is a clean atmosphere is not really clean at all. The levels are significant.”
The team needs to study the problem for a longer timespan. They have established a clear link between shipping traffic and local pollution. Now they need to see just how big a problem it is. Only then can the contribution to Malta’s health problems be nailed down.
Solving the problem is hard. Around 30,000 ships pass by Malta every year. Many are locally-registered, bringing in millions for Malta. The islands cannot afford to divert this traffic.
According to Ellul, our politicians could “go to Brussels with the data and say we need to ensure that ships switch to cleaner fuels when passing through the Mediterranean”. Malta could start with its own registered fleet, but apart from the EU it needs to convince the Arab League to bring the whole of the Mediterranean under the same legislation.
Solving the problem is hard. Around 30,000 ships pass by Malta every year. Many are locally-registered, bringing in millions
Ships currently use heavy fuel oil with 3.5 per cent sulfur. This needs to go down to at least 0.5 per cent to reduce some pollutant levels. Upgrading or scrapping old ships would also help reduce their detrimental effects.
Ships are allowed to burn fuel with 3,000 times more sulfur than cars. Ship emission expert James Carbett from the University of Delaware calculates that 27,000 people die in Europe because of shipping pollution. If these pollutants are not controlled the rise in shipping could kill hundreds of thousands.
A more detailed version of this article is available online at http://bit.ly/ISSUUThink07 .
Edward Duca is editor of Think magazine.