by Przemysław Myszka
Looking back in ten or 20 years at 2022, we will probably reminisce that it had a decently cool summer... Though the heat waves by and large omitted my place, where it was absurdly autumn-ish (+13 when most of Europe got scorched by nothing less than +30-35), the pattern is clear as burned with a pyrography machine: climate change is riding roughshod over greater and greater spaces. It will be a bleak consolation that, for instance, the 2037 grape harvest around Gävle or Hanko went unexpectedly well. More air conditioning won't solve the issue.
That is why the greening transport & logistics theme continues to occupy a fair share of our pages. This time around, we are starting with two Charts of the Issue. One is about the time required for transitioning from the less to the more clean versions of what are already alternative fuels. The other infographic shifts our focus to another ingredient of dealing with global warming: CO2 removal (with which even the laboured shipping industry experiments). Here is a DIY tip on a microscale: plant a plant; even better – turn your dwelling into a small-scale jungle (believe me, every effort counts!).
Industry-wise, we are hosting an interview with Carbon Neutral Consulting's Steve Crolius, among others, on the organisation's The Ammonia Report. This piece is followed by several other splendid climate-focused reads, including a shocking article on carbon inequality (about how elites pollute the most but pay the least); on research-powered setting up of e-methanol production in the Baltic Sea region (where else!); a legal analysis of whether the EU can require the fuel providers to pay for part of the extended Emissions Trading System (rather than passing it all to consumers); the role marine insurance can play in motivating the industry to partake in the green change; and a read that throws down the gauntlet to the notion that electrification will save us all.
Technology topics have also been prominent in our journal for the past couple of years, and this summer issue isn't an exception. You will find reads about remote inspection techniques; digital pivots in the maritime business (with artificial intelligence taking centre stage); digitalisation in ports' sustainability strategies; using a digital DNA to understand a vessel; digital developments in support of seafarer health and well-being; recommendations for fending off ransomware in shipping; and how tech-based relays can solve the truck driver shortage.
I sincerely hope other columns will also garner your attention as they cover equally important themes: tackling bio-content in marine fuels or playing out the new cranes and existing docks matrix. Lastly, an extraordinary mention goes to the article from the Mission to Seafarers on a gender-balanced workforce that rounds up the key challenges for women in seafaring.
And there is always Transport miscellany for a wee bit of relief from the sizzling sun and the grave concerns about humanity's future on the third rock from the sun. In it, you will read about the connecting power of art, a lighthouse-turned-clock that struck a round quarter of a millennium, acquainting teenagers with the diversity of the on- and offshore maritime employment opportunities, and riding a teensy-weensy car from Poland to Italy (including by a pair whose joint age is 188!). All things counted, I'm pretty sure you won't find this issue all sizzle and no steak.
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