Environmental impact of Non Metallic Hull Ships

Increasing fuel costs and a stronger focus on both energy efficiency and environmental competitiveness have created a large interest world-wide for using lightweight materials in shipbuilding. One of the major emerging global challenges affecting shipping is environmental protection and sustainability, with the challenge of climate change due to carbon emission. Due to economic and environmental advantages over other transportation modes, the reliance on shipping is expected to rise. Introduction of new technology, changes to ship and engine design and improvements in operating procedures will ensure a much slower rate of CO₂ emissions. By manufacturing ship structures using composites, the engine power can be reduced and the fuel consumption can be decreased. The different materials of construction of ship hulls will affect several cost elements during the production, operation and maintenance and decommissioning of ships. Furthermore, the material selection has an impact on the energy consumption within all stages of the ships life cycle. Life cycle analysis of an NMHS and an MHS is done in this paper. Carbon emissions in the different parts of the lifecycle is studied and compared.