International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract— Shipping transportation plays an important role in global trade as it is cheaper and greener than the other transportation modes. The greenhouse gas emissions emitted from ships are especially concerned due to the development of shipping transportation. Greenhouse gas emissions cause many negative effects on the environment including global warming potential (GWP). This study uses the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to estimate the GWP of a cargo ship in its entire life cycle. The ship’s life cycle contains five main phases: material production, shipbuilding, maintenance, ship operation, and ship’s end of life. GaBi software application is used to model the ship’s life cycle and to obtain the results. The GWP indicator in CML2001 methodology is used to assess the impact of the ship on the environment. The results show the dominance of the ship operation phase to the life cycle. Carbon dioxide emissions are the main factor which have significant impact on GWP due to its huge amount in comparison with other greenhouse gas emissions. The research shows the advantages of LCA method and indicates that this method should be used in maritime industry as it could give a holistic view of a product in terms of the environment.

Index Terms— Greenhouse gases, life cycle assessment, ship, environmental impact, emissions.

P. K. Quang is with School of Excellent Education (SEE), Vietnam Maritime University, Hai Phong, Vietnam (e-mail: phamkyquang@vimaru.edu.vn). D. T. Dong (corresponding author), T. V. Van, and P. T. T. Hai are with Faculty of Shipbuilding, Vietnam Maritime University, Hai Phong, Vietnam (e-mail: tuandd.dt@vimaru.edu.vn).

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Cite: Pham Ky Quang, Duc Tuan Dong, Tuyen Vu Van, and Pham Thi Thanh Hai, " Greenhouse Gas Emissions of a Cargo Ship from a Life Cycle Perspective," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 347-351, 2020.

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).