A comprehensive inventory of ship traffic exhaust emissions in the European sea areas in 2011

Abstract. Emissions originating from ship traffic in European sea areas were modelled using the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM), which uses Automatic Identification System data to describe ship traffic activity. We have estimated the emissions from ship traffic in the whole of Europe in 2011. We report the emission totals, the seasonal variation, the geographical distribution of emissions, and their disaggregation between various ship types and flag states. The total ship emissions of CO₂, NO_x, SO_x, CO, and PM_2.5 in Europe for year 2011 were estimated to be 121, 3.0, 1.2, 0.2, and 0.2 million tons, respectively. The emissions of CO₂ from the Baltic Sea were evaluated to be more than a half (55 %) of the emissions of the North Sea shipping; the combined contribution of these two sea regions was almost as high (88 %) as the total emissions from ships in the Mediterranean. As expected, the shipping emissions of SO_x were significantly lower in the SO_x Emission Control Areas, compared with the corresponding values in the Mediterranean. Shipping in the Mediterranean Sea is responsible for 40 and 49 % of the European ship emitted CO₂ and SO_x emissions, respectively. In particular, this study reported significantly smaller emissions of NO_x, SO_x, and CO for shipping in the Mediterranean than the EMEP inventory; however, the reported PM_2.5 emissions were in a fairly good agreement with the corresponding values reported by EMEP. The vessels registered to all EU member states are responsible for 55 % of the total CO₂ emitted by ships in the study area. The vessels under the flags of convenience were responsible for 25 % of the total CO₂ emissions.