Dry bulk cargo shipping - An overlooked threat to the marine environment?
2016
Grote, Matthias | Mazurek, Nicole | Gräbsch, Carolin | Zeilinger, Jana | Le Floch, Stéphane | Wahrendorf, Dierk-Steffen | Höfer, Thomas
Approximately 9.5 billion tonnes of goods is transported over the world oceans annually with dry bulk representing the largest cargo group. This paper aims to analyse whether the transport and associated inputs of dry bulks into the sea create a risk for the marine environment. For this purpose, we analyse the international regulatory background concerning environmental protection (MARPOL), estimate quantities and identify inputs of such cargoes into the oceans (accidental and operational), and use available information for hazard assessment. Annually, more than 2.15milliontonnes of dry bulk cargoes are likely to enter the oceans, of which 100,000tonnes are potentially harmful to the marine environment according to the definition included in draft maritime regulation. The assessment of the threat to the marine environment is hampered by a lack of available information on chemical composition, bioavailability and toxicity. Perspectives for amendments of the unsatisfying pollution prevention regulations are discussed.
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Bibliographic information
Publisher Elsevier Science
ISSN 1879-3363 | 0025-326XThis bibliographic record has been provided by German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment