Shipping traffic responsible for driving bans?
The nature conservation organisation NABU is sounding the alarm in Hamburg. Shipping traffic is one of the biggest sources of nitrogen oxide and must be more closely controlled.
Although the permissible average value has not been exceeded so far, caution is called for, as Malte Siegert confirmed to the news magazine ntv: "The pollution is enormous at certain points and, in our estimation, the overall health of local residents is worrying.
According to NABU, shipping traffic and the extremely high level of individual pollution is almost always due to shipping lanes near the coast or port. In this context, Siegert called on the Hanseatic City to collect more measurement data and to inform residents about the concrete danger to their health.
Cargo ships with their huge engines logically consume an enormous amount of fuel, mostly diesel, which is burnt and emitted all at once. According to NABU, in addition to more frequent trade fairs, corporations and shipping companies could be obliged to refuel with cleaner fuel.
Ensuring clean air is expensive, but especially in times of corona it is important to protect the respiratory tract, Siegert continues.
Motor vehicle drivers have long been calling for greater regulation of shipping and occasionally express the suspicion that emissions from shipping traffic are indirectly responsible for the environmental zones and driving bans on European roads.