The implications of heavy fuel oil ban in arctic waters for sustainable arctic shipping

Abstract

The increased temperature in the polar regions is one of the significant impacts of global warming and consequential climate change. In the Arctic, regional warming leads to the accelerated loss of sea ice caps, which has opened up new international shipping routes. Consequently, the associated risks of shipping operations raise concerns about the sustainability of the Arctic region. One of the serious issues of Arctic shipping is the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil (HFO) by ships due to the release of air emissions and potential oil spills. Hence, it has been discussed to phase out the use and carriage of HFO by ships in Arctic waters, and as a result, it was agreed upon the draft amendment of the Arctic HFO ban. Therefore, this study conducted a systematic literature review to investigate the impacts of the potential Arctic HFO ban under the sustainable development framework. There are 34 reviewed papers selected for this study to explore the implications of the Arctic HFO ban for the sustainable development of Arctic shipping. It was found that the environmental and socio-economic risks were significantly high because of the relatively larger consumption and carriage of HFO by ships in Arctic waters. A switch from HFO to distillate fuels by ships would be beneficial for the sustainability of the region and the sustainable development of Arctic shipping. However, it is necessary to develop further research on the development of alternative fuels other than distillate fuels