How Climate Change may affect the Shipping Industry

Climate change is no longer just a buzz word (or phrase) that gets tossed around with the hope of having some impact somewhere. We are seeing the effects of climate change in our daily lives – flash floods, droughts, melting ice caps and so on are all evidence of a changing climate. One of the industries that climate change will impact on is the shipping industry, which could add billions to the cost of worldwide shipping.

Shipping companies in the warmer waters, such as shipping agents Durban, know that marine life flourishes in warmer water. As global climate change causes the oceans to warm up, this will stimulate the growth of barnacles and other ship-clinging creatures such as algae and small colonies of coral. These will then attach themselves to the hull below the waterline, which can add up to as much as 10 tonnes of extra weight to the ship.

The cost of towing these creatures is immense with one study showing that the US shipping industry spends over $36 billion each year in additional fuel costs, as the ship needs to overcome the drag imposed by the attached sea creatures. An alternative solution to this problem caused by climate change is for ship owners can spend a small fortune on anti-fouling paint that prevents the marine life from attaching itself to the hull in the first place. These costs do not include those incurred for scraping the hull smooth, an arduous process that needs to be done regularly, which costs about $4.50 per square foot of hull surface.

One of the facts about climate change is that ocean temperatures will increase. Laboratory tests where seawater was heated to 3.5°C warmer than ocean temperature – that temperature predicted for the year 2100 - showed that marine organism growth rate doubled. Not only did they grow twice as fast, they also grew in much thicker layers.

Companies offering sea freight Durban already see the effects that the warmer water has on their ships. The increase in ocean temperature as a result of climate change and global warming will accelerate the growth of the marine life, which will require more fuel to overcome the drag, as well as require the hull to be scraped more frequently. This will place a huge financial burden on shipping costs, all as a result of climate change.