Worlds 15 Biggest Ships Equal Pollution of 760m Cars

James Corbett, professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware, claims not enough is done to regulate ship pollution

According to the Guardian Newspaper just one of the world’s largest container ships can be responsible for emissions equivalent to 50 million cars. Scarier still, the 15 largest ships in the world emit as much nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide as the world’s 760 million cars.

“Ship pollution affects the health of communities in coastal and inland regions around the world, yet pollution from ships remains one of the least regulated parts of our global transportation system.” Claims Corbett

The problem isn’t necessarily with the ships’ 109,000-horsepower engines that endlessly spin away 24 hours a day, 280 days a year. In fact, these power plants are some of the most fuel efficient units in the world. The real issue lies with the heavy fuel oil the ships run on and the almost complete lack of regulations applied to the giant exhaust stacks of these container ships.