Emissions Race SSS vs. ROAD - Road versus Short Sea Shipping (SSS): updating the 2008 comparison of emissions between modes

Abstract

In 2008, we compared emissions from road transport and SSS on specific routes in Vanherle (2010). The comparison of the three case studies showed how performance can differ depending on case specificities (ship type/size, route length,…), but also in what way performance was similar regardless of the differences of the 3 cases. We concluded SSS performed better than road transport in terms of CO2 and vice versa for SO2 and PM. In the past 8 years, various policies have come into effect to further reduce emissions from both modes. We find that on CO2 both road and SSS have slightly improved performance in 2016 compared to 2008. Both modes have reduced emissions of other pollutants in 2016 compared to 2008; the improvement in SSS is significantly larger than road with dramatic improvements for SO2 (up to factor 20 better), PM (up to factor 10 better) and NOx (factor 3-4 better). SSS now scores better than road transport in terms of CO2 emissions, equally well in terms of NOx and PM emissions, and worse in terms of SO2 emissions.