The shipping industry is responsible for transporting nearly 90% of the goods worldwide. Ships offer some of the most efficient methods for delivering and bringing in bulks of products from every corner of the world. However, even with all the conveniences that ships provide, we cannot ignore the massive carbon footprints that these leave behind. The Norwegian shipping industry in this regard has adopted quite a few methods. Although the LNG powered ships traverse the Norwegian waters for quite some time now, fossil fuels are still burnt along with the release of harmful emissions. Carbon dioxide and methane gases are among some of the more dangerous gases that are being released into the atmosphere at large and it seems the steps taken are just not sufficient to combat the adverse impacts.
Ships contribute on a large scale to the growing pollution that the world stands a witness to. Global warming that is constantly on the rise and threatens to soon take over our planet is triggered by maritime activities in a prominent way. Melting snow-caps and longer summers, the destruction of the coastal ecosystems and also the harm that is caused to the human health in general are some of the graver effects that improper shipping entails. The Norwegian shipping industry aims to contribute towards the betterment of the planet by incorporating methods that aim to reduce such unfavourable effects drastically. With the gradual induction into the hydrogen age, vehicles that would run solely on electricity is not far from becoming a reality.
Over the years, the Norwegian shipping industry has been increasingly pushing the boundaries to develop environmentally friendly cargo and passenger ships that would make ‘zero-emissions’ a possibility. The Norwegian government assures the world that the year 2030 would be when a drastic change in the shipping industry would be occurring with the introduction of zero emission ferries.
Ferries and cruise vessels up for sale are steadily being incorporated with the hydrogen fuelled solution that would ensure harmless emission, if any. The newly constructed ships and the ones still under construction are made to run on biofuel, which unlike others, is directly extracted from the living matter. These natural gases see to it that the rich marine ecosystems and the sea water in general is not polluted in the least. The fumes, the sewage, the overflow of dirty water and the waste products that are produced by cruises are some of the most destructive consequences of cruising that must be stalled at all cost.
Care is taken to ensure that the modern hydrogen fuelled machines, in order to be as efficient as the industry standards demand, do not compromise while maintaining the health and the safety of the environment. The initiative taken by the Norwegian government has the potential to set the benchmark for the shipping industry worldwide as the electric run, hydrogen fuelled ships are exactly what the future needs for ships to thrive as a mode of transportation without causing harm to the surroundings we inhabit.
