Press Overview February 2019

(CNN)Cruise ships generate high levels of air pollution that could endanger the health of passengers, staff and port communities, according to an undercover report released Thursday.

Maritime shipping makes up more than 90 percent of the world's trading, according to the International Maritime Organization. That's a whole lot of boats. So the fact that the enormous Danish shipping company Maersk is currently working to make its expansive shipping process sustainable is pretty exciting, as the move could significantly help reduce the industry's carbon footprint. As reported by Good News Network, Maersk plans to replace all of its ships' fossil fuels with renewable fuel sources by next year in order to comply with a new maritime law. Additionally, the brand intends to become completely carbon neutral by 2050.

Emissions from shipping represents up to 40% of all Mediterranean coastal city air pollution

In 2018, the sale of bunker oil - fuel for shipping - in the Rotterdam bunker port decreased from 9.9 million m3 to 9.5 million m3. The decrease can almost entirely be ascribed to the decline in sales of heavy fuel oil from 8.3 million m3 to 7.9 million m3. The throughput of LNG - liquefied natural gas - as bunker fuel increased considerably from 1,500 to 9,500 tonnes, Port of Rotterdam said in its release.

The EU demands clear guidelines on discharge of washwater from scrubbers, amid fears that the byproduct could cause irreparable environmental damage.

The international maritime shipping industry is increasingly using emission-reducing flue-gas desulfurization systems provided by Bilfinger, claimed the German engineering company.

Ecoslops has signed a new agreement with Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) to establish a facility for the collection, reception and treatment of maritime oil waste at Port Saïd in Egypt.

A U.S. court has sentenced a Cypriot ship management company to a $2 million fine and four years of probation for MARPOL violations, the latest in a long-running series of successful federal prosecutions for oil pollution charges.

IMO’s treaty for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling has received another boost. The Netherlands has become the eighth country to become a Party to the Hong Kong Convention.

Turkey, one of the five major ship recycling countries in the world, has acceded to the International Maritime Organization Hong Kong Convention, the treaty for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that four foreign flagged ships remained under detention in UK ports during January 2019 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection.

Yesterday, Grieg Star began the recycling of its faithful Star Gran at LEYAL Ship Recycling Group in Turkey. She is the first under the new EU recycling regulations.