It's no secret that the auto industry's most profitable vehicles are also the hardest hit when gasoline prices climb past consumers' comfort levels. Bo Andersson, the man behind GM's purchasing decisions, says that the tipping point currently hovers around $3.30 a gallon. At that price, sales start to slow, causing a world of hurt for GM and the other automakers. But, he pointed out another rising cost which hurts the industry: shipping. As the auto market shifts towards sourcing parts from all over the world, the rising cost of oil is raising the cost of getting parts from their country of origin to the plant making the vehicle. According to Andersson, for every dollar the price of oil increases, GM spends $6 million more for global logistics. That's a very large number, and the price of oil is doing nothing but climbing these days.

[Source: Automotive News]

With the dramatic increase in international trade in the past couple of decades, particularly between China and North America, ocean shipping traffic has gone up along with the emissions from those ships. Recent studies have shown that shipping is generating almost as many emissions as road transport and more than aviation.

Ships typically use much lower quality fuels than road going vehicles and don't have much in the way of emission controls. The marine bunker fuels typically used emit 700 times the sulfur dioxide of road-going diesel vehicles. A group of northern European companies is now collaborating on a project to install a fuel cell in a Norwegian offshore oil field supply ship in 2008. The molten carbonate fuel cell stack will use natural gas with on the fly steam reformation to produce the hydrogen to generate the electricity.

The fuel cell ship will be much more efficient than the diesel engines and run much cleaner. Meanwhile Iceland is planning to convert their fishing fleet to hydrogen fuel cells using hydrogen produced by their abundant geothermal energy.

[Source: Reuters]

A while back, I visited San Francisco, and for the first time in my life, I witnessed people using huge kits as sails to lift themselves up out of the water. I was suitably impressed, I must say, and thought that the sport looked like fun. Personal anecdote aside, it seems that these large kite sails may be good for more than human sport. According to this article, a company called Kite For Sale is testing these kite sails to add extra power to boats for use in shipping. The tests have worked well, it seems, as their test-bed is a trimaran which only uses the on-board engine for low speed travel and maneuvering. So, what we have here is a hybrid... a wind/petroleum hybrid boat. Cool, old technology is made new again.

Related:

• Heard of regenerative braking? How about regenerative sailing?
• Aussie Solar Ferries coming to San Francisco
• Miss Statue of Liberty green ferry to debut in 2008

[Source: Gizmag]

Port representatives from around the U.S. are currently attending the third Faster Freight - Cleaner Air (FFCA) conference which examines technologies and processes designed to reduce the environmental impact of all sectors of the goods movement industry (rail, trucking, marine, off-road equipment and air freight). Last November the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach adopted the "San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan" which has inspired many other ports worldwide to undertake similar activities in a bid to reduce their environmental impact. The pollution levels created by the goods movement industry are of particular concern and have come under increased scrutiny over the last few years.

The San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan is a comprehensive blueprint to reduce the health risks associated with air pollution from port-related ships, trucks, trains, terminal equipment and harbor craft. Key elements of the hundreds of millions of dollars plan are to cut particulate matter (PM) pollution by more than 50 percent within five years, reduce NOx emissions by more than 45 percent and reduce sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions as well. Within five years, "dirty" diesel trucks will be banned from the San Pedro Bay cargo terminals where only new "clean" diesel trucks and retrofitted vehicles will be allowed to operate. Another initiative is to equip all major container cargo and cruise ship terminals at the ports with shore-side electricity which will allow vessels at berth to shut down their diesel-powered auxiliary engines.

A highlight of the FFCA conference is a panel discussion covering green leases - leases which implement low-emission and environmentally-friendly processes and technologies into port operations. Among the speakers to attend are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. The EPA is a sponsor of the event.

Analysis: If you think an old diesel truck is an air polluter, imagine what the same vintage diesel technology on a container carrier is doing! It's great to see this kind of proactive approach being taken by the goods movement industry. I'd like to see similar plans to reduce PM, NOx and SOx across every port - all totaled it would really add up.

Related:

• 1,000 tonnes (1.3 million liters) of heavy fuel oil on burning ship near the South Pole
• Heard of regenerative braking? How about regenerative sailing?
• Truckers see the SmartWay to ship freight, are rewarded by the EPA

[Source: Faster Freight - Cleaner Air 2007 press release]