Impact of climate change on the maritime industry part 1 of 3 - melting of arctic ice

Abstract

In recent years, climate change has been the hot topic for the global community. The changes have affected many communities and industries including the shipping sector. Majority of the research had been done on how shipping has contributed to climate change and not much discussed about the opposite scenario. The strategy used to handle the impacts of climate change is mainly curbing their carbon emission. This report examines the impacts of climate change on the maritime industry, focusing on the melting of Arctic Ice. The level of severity of each impact is also studied. A framework of strategies that minimises or capitalises the impact is established and their effectiveness investigated. A data collection process, consisting of interviewing of maritime professionals and in-depth literature review, was done in order to produce and perform survey polling on the shipping and port sector of the East Asian Region to garner industrial sentiments on the topic. It is found that the survey respondents from both the shipping and port sector know the concept of climate change and felt that they are affected by the impacts of climate change. The sentiments of the respondents are also that they are concerned about the impacts but felt that they will affect them only in a small degree in the near future. When opinions are asked about the effectiveness of the proposed framework of strategies, the respondent reacted positively. It is evident from the findings that climate change is a matter of concern and the strategies proposed are effective in minimising or capitalising the impacts of climate change.