Ocean World: Past and Future virtual study tour makes its first stop in Indonesia

Poster of the virtual study tour

The Virtual Study Tour, titled “Ocean World: Past and Future” officially kicked off on 14 April 2023 via Zoom and Facebook Live. It was organised by UTAR Division of Community and International Networking (DCInterNet) with three partner universities, namely Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Indonesia; De La Salle University, Philippines; and Hainan University, China.

The Virtual Study Tour will be taking place from 14 to 29 April 2023. It will feature a total of four sessions, covering different topics, such as Environmental Protection in the Ocean, Marine Resources and Scenes, Sea Transportation, and A Brief History of Pirates in Southeast Asia.

The opening ceremony, which took place on 14 April 2023, saw the presence of UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, who delivered a speech to welcome the participants. He said, “Ocean sustainability is critical for the health and wellbeing of our planet, as the ocean covers 70% of the earth’s surface and provides a home for a wide array of plants and animals. It also regulates the earth’s climate by producing oxygen and supports human activities such as fishing, shipping, and tourism. However, pollution, overfishing and climate change have put tremendous pressure on the ocean and its resources, which could cause permanent damage to its ecosystem and reduce its resources. Thus, maintaining ocean sustainability is important to ensure the ocean can continue to provide for humans and the planet as a whole. I hope today’s virtual tour will be able to help raise the participants’ knowledge on the importance of ocean sustainability and allow them to think about how to make a positive impact directly or indirectly.”

Prof Choong delivering his speech

Prof Choong (top right) with participants

The virtual tour began with its first stop in Indonesia. Spearheading the talk was Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Faculty of Marine Technology academic Dr Eng Trika Pitana with his topic titled “Environmental protection in the ocean”.  

Dr Trika Pitana

Beginning with a showcase of videos on marine pollution, Dr Trika proceeded to talk about the current international regulations involving marine protection, such as the Marine Pollution (MARPOL) 73/78 Annex I – VI, the Sulphur Cap 2020, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), Ship Decarbonization and the Ballast Water Convention.

Dr Trika touched on MARPOL and explained that it has many regulations in place to prevent pollution from a ship which includes oil, noxious liquid substance, harmful substances carried by sea in package form, sewage, garbage and air pollution. He also explained in detail about the Sulphur Cap 2020, saying, “The current sulphur cap in fuels that have been set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) since 2020 for ships that have high or medium fuel usage is as little as 0.5%, not to mention this is in addition to the 0.1% sulphur limit in areas such as North America, the US Caribbean, the North Sea and Baltic Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs). The purpose of having this regulation is to avoid the content of Sulphur Oxide, which can potentially cause acid rain, and is dangerous to humans. There are ways to comply with this regulation, one of which is to have very low sulphur content, though the cost to do so is extremely high. Moreover, utilising alternative fuels such as liquified natural gas (LNG), ammonia and hydrogen, using sulphur-free content and employing an exhaust gas cleaning system or scrubber, are other ways to comply with the Sulphur Cap 2020.”

Dr Trika explaining the international regulations

After a short video on the functions of scrubbers in removing sulphur from fuel, Dr Trika spoke on EEDI, EEXI, and CII. “To calculate EEDI, the formula is the impact on the environment divided by the benefit to society, or specifically, the Carbon Dioxide emission over human transport work. There are several methods to reduce EEDI, some of which include lowering energy consumption in the main and auxiliary engines, using natural gases as opposed to oil for the ship’s main fuel, having hulls with less resistance and improved steering configurations, and utilising miscellaneous technologies to reduce minor energy consumers,” said Dr Trika. He added, “EEXI is very much similar to EEDI; the only difference between the two is EEDI is applied to new ships, while EEXI is relevant to existing vessels. Meanwhile, CII is a new regulation, which measures the ship’s carbon dioxide emission level with the specific ratings, A, B, C, D and E. It is applicable to all ships above 5,000 Gross Tonnage (GT), and vessels rated D or E for three consecutive years, need to develop a plan of corrective actions, which has to be approved by the administration.”

Dr Trika showing an example of the scrubber system

Dr Trika explaining EEDI, EEXI and CII

Dr Trika moved on to his next topic about Marine Litter, which he described as the marine plastic coming from ships travelling across the seas. He noted that the IMO has strategies in place to reduce marine plastic litter from ships, which are reducing marine plastic generated from and retrieved by fishing vessels, decreasing shipping’s contribution to marine plastic, improving the effectiveness of port reception and facilities and treatment in reducing marine litter, enhancing public awareness, education and seafarer training, and improving the understanding of the contribution of ships to marine plastic litter. However, Dr Trika lamented that the problem of marine litter still persists due to the lack of awareness among fishermen, seafarers and the general public.

Dr Trika highlighting the strategies to combat marine litter

Another topic elucidated by Dr Trika was the issues with Ballast Water. He said, “A ship’s ballast water contains many invasive marine species and microorganisms, which poses as one of the four major threats towards the ocean, with the other three being land-sourced marine pollution, overexploitation of living marine resources and the physical alteration or destruction of sea habitats. Eighty per cent of the world’s commodities are shipped through the sea, as the unit cost is the cheapest. Thus, ballast water is constantly used, with 12 billion tonnes of ballast transferred every year. As a result, many microorganisms such as microbes, bacteria, viruses, crustaceans, echinoderms, algae, and plankton are transferred into the ocean through the discharge of ballast water from the ship, disrupting the biodiversity and affecting the aquatic ecosystem. This problem may continue to persist, as ships are getting bigger, faster, and more frequent, which means more Ballast Water containing these microorganisms will be used.”

He continued explaining the positive and negative impacts of Ballast Water, saying, “Even with that being said, Ballast Water has its purposes; it maintains safe operating conditions, stabilises vessels, provides the transverse ability, improves propulsion and manoeuverability, and reduces stress on the ship’s hull. However, there are obviously negative consequences towards the ocean, as it poses serious health, ecological and economic problems.”

Dr Trika enlightening the participants on issues of Ballast Water

Dr Trika played a video on Ballast Water to further illustrate his explanation of Ballast Water, before wrapping up the talk by sharing the trend of alternative energy used to power ships in order to decrease the consumption of fuel energy. “One of the different energy sources used currently is Wind Energy, with the utilisation of Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) techniques on ships such as turbines, sails, wings, and foils. There are many different types of ships using WASP, such as rectangular sail ships, triangular sail ships, Flettner rotors, skysail ships, and walker wingsail ships. Another alternative energy source is solar energy, where the ships have solar panels installed onto their ships, and travel during daytime as they harness the power of the sun. Finally, fully electric and autonomous ships have been newly introduced. These ships have no crew and run dependently on electricity to reach their destination autonomously, with the main aim of reducing any emission from the ship,” Dr Trika explained.

Dr Trika demonstrating how Ballast Water works through a video

Dr Trika showing the various alternative energy used to replace fuel energy

The talk ended with a brief Q&A session and a group photography session.

Dr Trika (second row; first from left) alongside the other participants

Following the first station at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Indonesia, the Ocean World: Past and Future Virtual Study Tour will make its next stops at Station 2— De La Salle University, Philippines, Station 3— Hainan University, China, and Station 4— Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

To read more about the talks at the other stations, please click the links below.