Since 2009, Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan (EPAT) has initiated “Establishment of Port Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory and Drafting of Management Strategies” program. This program is created for improving air qualities over port areas in Taiwan, while fulfilling the Taiwan-U.S. collaboration commitment. The program started with the creation of ground-level information for port air pollutant inventory, followed by the planning of air cleaning action initiative for port areas. And to date, the program has accomplished the establishment of five emission inventories based on 2009 to 2013, respectively. This program is a follow-up for implementing “Establishment of Port Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory and Drafting of Management Strategies”. Major aspects of the program include: learning related management experiences from countries of abroad; maintaining international communication channels; sharing Taiwan’s domestic management experiences and results; promoting global collaboration; reviewing new international practices to update pollutant inventory; and expanding the forecasting extent of the inventory. On the management level, the program focused on the emission reduction initiative of institutions on port areas, and analyzed the feasibility of legal system on charging air pollution fee from ships. Accomplishments of the current year work plan are highlighted below:
1. Update the emission and load coefficients of the main engine, auxiliary engine, and boiler for the ocean-going vessels. The emission coefficients for harbor vessels, cargo handling equipment, and locomotives are also updated. Furthermore, the procedure of setting up tailor the cargo handling equipment data has been improved.
2. Establish the web query system of port emission data (https://mobile.epa.gov.tw/portemis/). All data were integrated into attribute database and activity database. There are three main functions in the query system: attribute data query, activity data query, and estimated emission dat query of air pollution sources.
3. Accomplish the emission estimation of year 2013 for seven commercial ports, two industrial ports, and four special ports of state-own enterprises. Estimated emissions include ocean-going vessels, harbor vessels, cargo handling equipment, and heavy-duty vehicles. For all the ports, the main contributor of emission is the vessels. The primary sources are ships, especially the ocean-going vessels contributing 59 to 100% to port emissions. Among the ports, Kaohsiung Port is the largest followed by Taichung Port in year 2013.
4. The predicted future PM2.5 emission of Taipei port in 2026 will be 1.87 times in 2013. That of other ports in 2026 will be 0.9 to 1.35 times in 2013.
5. After reference to foreign techniques and regulations of air pollution reduction over port areas, as well as consideration of our current emission control status and reduction cost, promotion of shore power system and vessel speed reduction are recommended as the two priorities for control strategies.
6. The calculation of ship air pollution fee is recommended to base on route sectors and a) consumed fuel, or b) averaged speed for energy consumed. On the shipping companies, TIPC (Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd) and MPB’s (Maritime and Port Bureau) point of view, all benefits from charging of air pollution fee. The funds could apply on subsidy system and deposit system and reach the optimized result of environment protection to pollution costs.
7. On the shipping companies point of view, charging of air pollution fee impacts less for larger ships. The impacts for refrigerated vessel are the largest. The cost is increased about 60% for entering the port. That for other ships is around 10 to 30%.
