Environmental Issues

The magnitude, importance and efficiency of the international shipping industry has already been stated. It is also worth highlight the environmental benefits of transporting goods by sea.

Shipping has long been recognised as one of the most environmentally sustainable means of transport in the world today. It is less damaging to the environment than other modes of transport and subject to far fewer capacity limitations.

No other means of transport can come close to the energy efficiency of ships. A long-haul truck uses between 0.7 to 1.2 megajoules per tonne-kilometre. A typical freight train consumes around 0.6 megajoules per tonne-kilometre. A ship carrying around 25,000 tonnes of cargo at 18.5 knots (which is relatively fast) uses only 0.12 megajoules per tonne-kilometre. Larger ships such as VLCC's are even more impressive. Quite simply this translates into fewer emissions per tonne-kilometre.

As world trade continues to grow and just-in-time deliveries become standard, the importance of efficient and economical container transportation by sea as an essential part of the supply chain is established and growing.

To quote from Fairplay "Televisions we can survive without. Aircraft are useful, but not essential. Even 15 years ago, most business functioned perfectly well without computers. But take away containers, and the global economy would collapse overnight".


Article by Capt. Robert Rayner

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Also, please feel free to read more about the history of our main products, the Queen Mary Ship, the SS United States, and the Normandie ship. Their model specifications can be found in our Ocean Liner products section.