Reducing Swedish commercial fleet air pollution

The European shipping industry has undergone incredible growth. As a spillover effect, the air pollution from marine transport sources has also increased. Zoi Nikopoulou, a PhD student in Gothenburg, is calculating the costs for the commercial fleet of implementing new technologies and new fuels in order to reduce its contribution to air pollution.

SKEMA is a three-year project (June 2008-June 2011), funded by the European Commission, where a consortium of European universities and maritime organisations cooperated to provide a coherent view of key aspects of Maritime Transport and Logistics. PhD student Zoi Nikopoulou at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg contributed to the building of the interactive internet platform, www.eskema.eu.
 

”I am looking at air pollution from marine engines from a logistics and business perspective. The background is the international regulation on air pollution for the shipping industry”, says Zoi Nikopoulou.
 

The regulation depicts three steps of increasing severity. The last and most expensive step, which also includes local sea traffic for companies, will be made in 2015 and 2016 and will potentially affect sea traffic in north European Seas when fully deployed. The research will examine what happens when the shipping industry has to shift to new fuels and to develop more efficient engine systems.

”Several interesting issues are now discussed, such as if it will be too expensive to transport by sea, and if the cargo goes back to road haulage. Some ship owners have already made up their mind on how to handle the change, but many have not”, says Zoi Nikopoulou.

This makes Zoi Nikopoulou’s research an interesting and important source of information for consultants, other students and professionals in the industry. In her PhD study, she has been calculating what the cost to decrease the air pollution for each ship in the Swedish commercial fleet will be. For each ship she has looked at three new different possible technologies and three different bunker fuels that are already commercially viable and available on the market.

”An interesting alternative is natural gas as a marine fuel, which involves significant technical and logistical complications. Having outlined an area where natural gas could be an interesting alternative, I examine the opinions and the attitudes of the shipping market as a first indication of what the future could bring”, says Zoi Nikopoulou.

She says that everything is in a state of rapid change and one challenge for her is to keep up–to-date with knowledge in fields related to her own. Zoi Nikopoulou’s work within the SKEMA project has given her valuable experience and a better overview of the maritime industry. To find out more about SKEMA, please visit www.eskema.eu.

Zoi Nikopoulou
Age: 35
From: Greece, but now living in Gothenburg, Sweden with her Icelandic boyfriend.
Background: Bachelors degree in Business Administration in Greece, Masters degree in logistics and transport management in Gothenburg. PhD student, working within the SKEMA project.
Research area: Cost calculations for the Swedish commercial fleet for reducing air pollution (nitrogen oxides NOx and sulfur oxides SOx) by on-board environmental technologies and marine fuels. Momentum: Curiosity
Leisure: Photography, reading and dance
About the future: Wants to keep solving problems.