I have to put this somewhere. How Green is shipping in the US?

DRUM ROLL PLEASE! I find shipping fascinating. [needle long scratches off record, entire bar looks at me as I walk in]

It is. Shut up. So in this Economist article, they talk about ships as polluters. I didn’t really think, comparatively, that held much water. They had a little more info about the state of the biz over here.

So what about my man George Gratsos from the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping?  I knew you would think of him, just like I did.  Here’s what he said to the Economist.

SIR – The subtitle to your article on ships as polluters read: “Ships are filthy. A new website shows how filthy” (“Smokestack lightening”, December 11th). Shipping transports about 90% of the world’s trade and emits 2.7% of the world’s emissions. The per tonne of cargo transported by a very large crude-oil carrier of about 310,000 tonnes capacity is 153 times more energy efficient per tonne of cargo than a Boeing 747-400, 63 times more energy efficient than a small truck, 14 times more energy efficient than a large truck and five times more energy efficient than a train. This simple fact should have caused you to question the information on which you based your article.

Shipowners or operators have every incentive to economise on fuel consumption, considering fuel represents a very large proportion of the overall transport cost, but they do not design the ships. Every ship on the market wanting to secure employment is advertised with its deadweight capacity, speed and consumption clearly stated for all to see. Transparency in shipping is not an issue.

George Gratsos
President
Hellenic Chamber of Shipping
Piraeus, Greece