The Catastrophe is forecase to be...

The helplessness and anger are still palpable in some populations struggling to rebuild and overcome from such catastrophe. So, how is it possible that any oil spill can occur without the oil company acknowledging that a problem exists? Does this seem disturbingly familiar to anyone?

Today, another giant Royal Dutch Shell faces an oil leak that took place at one of its North Sea platforms. The leak was found near the Gannet Alpha platform, 180 km (113 miles) from Aberdeen, Scotland. The company would not say how much oil may have been spilt so far, though it said it had "esteemed the leak significantly". One of the wells at the Gannet oilfield has been closed, but the company would not say if production was reduced. The company says it has sent a clean-up vessel to the location and has a plane monitoring the surface. The leak was found in a flow line connecting an oil well to the platform. Shell confirmed the leak was continuing but said it was being reduced and was "not a significant spill".

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was in contact with Shell and investigating the incident in the usual way. The department's spokesman added that it understood from Shell that there was a "finite amount of oil that can be dispersed" but stressed that regulators were taking the leak seriously.”

The situation is being taken serious, as usual. We hope and wish that it does not become a second Deepwater Horizon - Gulf of Mexico drama.

Not only is oil becoming more and scarcer, the quality is also decreasing, we create GHG after burning and oil spills are another environmental load. Reviewing our energy resources is becoming a top priority.

What we surely may not forget is the on-going protection of the aquatic life and to keep control of all ship and cargo pollution elements. The speed of change, particularly related to cargo pollution or oil pollution is so great that there simply isn’t time for marine life to adapt to the new conditions. Overfishing, oil pollution, sewage and grey water control of land industries, ocean acidification, rising water temperatures and overfishing are all exacerbating the rapid decline of species such as reef-forming coral, sharks, hagfish, smooth hammerhead and other species may be next.

It is logic that the impacts when taken together do have a greater overall effect than any single effect. For example, the decline of coral reef ecosystems due to overfishing and reef bleaching, plus the acidification that causes bleaching, will eradicate the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. If we combine the above with the earth warming effect and we consider the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean, the implications become far worse. A logic effect of what we all have learned from our chemistry and physics courses. We create chemical reactions, combined with the gas law, based on pressure, temperature and volume. The problem is that we do not verify or control it. Mankind never did.

To control cargo pollution elements and to increase safety, environmental and health we want to highlight here a recent development between Responsible Carriers / Ship Owners and Ship Operators: The Cargo Incident Notification System and Organisation (CINS). The efficiency of this organization is high, due to the awareness and knowledge available in the CINS Council and the will to deal directly with related problems and incidents.

The above to describe reactants ashore and at sea and to start the identification of one of the parameters that must be controlled as soon as possible: “temperature”. This means controlling the energy and the creation of exhaust gases. The rate of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and the rate of change in the oceans are high and there is an urgent need to get that under control.

Identifying and building a sustainable energy system are perhaps two of the most critical issues that today's society must address. Hard decisions must be made about the path forward, and this path must be followed with a sustained and focused effort. What is the latest Marine Environmental Protection Committee or MEPC outcome?

The move represents the first ever mandatory global greenhouse gas reduction regime for an international industry sector. The new rules are expected to enter into force on January 1, 2013.

The amended regulations make the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) mandatory for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) mandatory for all ships. Other amendments add new definitions and the requirements for survey and certification, including the format for the International Energy Efficiency Certificate. The regulations apply to all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above, though the requirement to comply with the EEDI requirements may be waived in certain situations.

The EEDI is a non-prescriptive, performance-based mechanism that leaves the choice of technologies used in a specific ship design to the industry. As long as the required energy-efficiency level is attained, ship designers and builders would be free to use the most cost-efficient solutions for the ship to comply with the regulations. The SEEMP establishes a mechanism for operators to improve the energy efficiency of ships.

The MEPC agreed a work plan to continue the work on energy efficiency measures for ships. This will include the development of the EEDI to encompass for ship types and sizes, as well as propulsion systems, which are not covered by the current requirements.

Basically, shipping is an environmentally sound way of transporting goods as it is energy effective and has low demands on the infrastructure compared to other modes of transport. Nevertheless, since it has an international character and since the industries’ enormous scaling up, shipping industry today is a source of immense disturbance for humans and the environment.

It’s a complex discussion and there are different views on how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. Global economy, politics, lobby work, first-second-third-world issues, the role of the banking sector, and so on.

Few solutions can be put forward:

1. All different pollution problems must be addressed.

2. There is enough awareness and know how in the world to make a practical and technical implementation plan about energy reduction, which should be implemented and compensated in order to motivate ship owners to invest in new technologies

3. Training of officers and engineers for LNG and hydrogen powered vessels

1. Retrofit of old vessels and install LNG

1. Replacing our current energy carrier mix with a sustainable fuel is one of the key pieces in that system. Hydrogen as an energy carrier, primarily derived from water, can address issues of sustainability, environmental emissions, and energy security. Issues relating to hydrogen production pathways are addressed here. Future energy systems require money and energy to build.