Assessment of Shipping Emissions on Busan Port of South Korea

Abstract

This study aims to accurately estimate the emissions of seven air pollutants (NOX, SOX, CO2, CO, PM2.5, PM10, and NMVOC) from ships for one year (2020) in the busiest port in Korea, Busan Port. To achieve this, a more detailed method for calculating emissions was developed, taking into account factors such as the type of fuel used, mode of operation, and engine output of each ship that entered and left the port. In cases where information on the ship’s main engine was not available, a regression analysis was performed to estimate the engine output based on the ship’s tonnage. In addition, the output of auxiliary engines was estimated based on the ratio of the output of the main engine to that of the auxiliary engine for recently built ships. Finally, emissions from fishing vessels were also included in the calculations. Thus, in Busan port, the total estimated fuel consumption from 44,315 cases in 2020 was 252,519 t; the consumption during hoteling accounted for 87%. In detail, the emissions of seven air pollutants reflecting the emission factors were analyzed as follows: NOX, 18,323 t; SOX, 16,924 t; CO2, 790.383 t; CO, 714 t; PM2.5, 1484 t, PM10, 1614 t; and NMVOC, 772 t. In addition, this study provides an estimation equation to estimate engine output based on a ship’s tonnage, which showed the highest fitness when compared to actual engine output. This methodology can be useful for calculating emissions of air pollutants at the port in detail and promoting marine environment policies.