Ship recycling perspective on environmental impacts - A case study for the ships in service

Abstract

Reducing the environmental impacts of maritime activities should involve the shipbuilding, operations, and recycling sectors. The measures taken within the sector should be determined independently for each subsector. To reduce and prevent environmental impacts, it is necessary to be able to measure the relevant impact prior to its occurrence. This study evaluates the Turkish merchant marine fleet's older than 30-year-old ships from a recycling standpoint. As an alternative cutting method, the calculated perspective and water jet cutting method scenarios are compared. The study's findings are presented in eleven categories of environmental impact. When the existing cutting method, oxy-fuel cutting method, and water jet cutting method are compared, the impact of global warming can be decreased by 40 %. In the oxy-fuel cutting method, the effect of oxygen consumption on the global warming potential has been calculated to exceed 60 %. The collected data indicate the environmental impact load of ship-cutting procedures on ships that will soon be recycled. This study will give statistics to guide the improvement processes of ship recycling industrialists, decision-makers, and other stakeholders by evaluating the environmental implications that will result from the recycling of ships older than 30 years.