There is nothing quite like a cargo ship - they are both enormous and impressive to watch. They resemble moving mountains along the surface of the s...
There is nothing quite like a cargo ship – they are both enormous and impressive to watch. They resemble moving mountains along the surface of the sea. They are not the usual battleship grey of some huge ships. They carry impossibly high stacked loads of bright blue, orange and green containers. On a load such as this one, your luxury German car is carefully loaded and ready to disembark at its given destination overseas. An equal array of bright-hued cranes, also impressive in their enormity, will unload your new baby onto the dock. You are a satisfied customer knowing that that expensive car was shipped overseas by an efficient shipping company and saved you money and hassle by doing so.
Unfortunately, there is a downside to all this colorful efficiency. There are environmental concerns associated with the shipment of both domestic and international diesel-fueled cargo. As a new and burgeoning industry, the shipping industry is also responsible for new and growing environmental problems, with no viable solutions implemented as yet. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) met on the subject of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, particularly cargo vessels as late as 2008.
Ballast water is discharged by all ships. The bigger the ship, the more the ballast water, in some cases, a small ocean is discharged by these huge vessels. This ballast water is of most concern to international shipping as the water is taken in at one coastal area during unloading and discharged into a completely alien environmental coastal zone at the port of destination.
The golden-haired guy with the golden Rolex waiting for his super-car may not care, but despite the world’s oblivious enthusiasm for luxury cars and wristwatches an environment so mixed up can’t help deteriorating. Ballast water contains plants and animals, viruses and bacteria. When pumped into the ship’s tanks, these life forms are either alive or properly dead in their natural environments. By the time they are discharge some of them will be dead, some will still be alive, some will have increased in numbers or mutated, and all of them will be completely out of their depth and range in foreign waters, turning to liter, pests, or invasive species. The effect is chaos and destruction in aquatic ecosystems.
Car transportation by land can be said to be in fact more economic in terms of gasoline. Driven separately, a dozen personal vehicles use at least twice as much gas as a single carrier truck which delivers the cars to their approximate destinations in one huge haul. This, however, helps mostly to save money, rather than the environment. The customer saves and the company earns money: this is good economy, not ecology. Everybody wins and resources circulate, but the environment is increasingly depleted.
Even if less people personally drive their cars on those rare occasions when they must travel long distances and have the car with them, the industry of cars, car manufacturers, and car handlers still flourish. In fact, the industry expands and they do better than before. In the long run, more cars are used, which, together with land, sea, and air shipping contributes more than ever to environmental problems.
Reducing the number of industries contributing to the collapse of our planet’s environment actually lowers the cost on the services these companies provide in many cases. Some technologically minded theorists quiver with excitement over new technologies like super-crystals and nano-microchips. Others are simply insatiable consumers with no concept of how things work as long as they can own the latest gadgets the new technologies provide. These fashionistas will grab the latest generation of wireless cell phones so they can listen to music without earbuds while displaying themselves on crowded, noisy thoroughfares. They could care less about the technology or even the music for that matter. They are the trendy ones.
Car owners tend to follow the same pattern. To many of them, a car is a luxury item, while to others it a symbol of status, an achievement to display. There are approximately 25% of car owners worldwide who own their vehicle not out of necessity, but because “everybody has one.” Some own cars even though it is not sensible or convenient to do so. Yet these same people will do anything, even work multiple jobs so they can show that they own a car, whether used or new, or Kia Rio or Mercedes XL. Why? So they can drive around the corner (instead of walk) to the hottest club.
Some of this rubs off on related services. Burgeoning industries like auto shipping originated out of a real need for the services. They strive to excel in their industry through expanded services and marketing campaigns to soon become not just a service provider but a status symbol. When the symbol becomes generally recognizable, not only the major players, but the minor league as well benefit from unchecked consumerism.
There have been steps taken to reduce the ill effects these mammoth carriers have on the environment, but their number is increasing as shipping grows in both potential and popularity. Innovative technologies are being created to improve auto shipping, but there is no current technology that can turn back the damage done to the sea and air by one lone ro-ro ferry performing only one job.
You might think that an individual need not worry about global environmental matters. But the truth is to the contrary. Unchecked consumerism detracts from the side effects on the periphery of auto shipping by sea and air. Little thought is given to invasive species introduced by these mega-carriers that cost the United States alone many billions of dollars annually. Cholera and its many strains, bacteria, toxic algae, and hungry and destructive pests like Zebra Mussels are spread by ballast water. One load of this water from a cargo ship can circulate in a few years a sufficient number of vermin as to be fatal for fisheries, agriculture, tourism and recreational industries.
The future of the auto shipping industry is not dimming. The business is undergoing a natural growth, but the growth is also because of the successful marketing campaigns. It is fairly certain that soon governments will impose technical and performance restrictions and fees for road use, vehicle types, and hundreds of services exactly because, at present, business is good.
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