The question of sustainability is one
that is often in conflict with the profitability goals of the organisation.
With a world economy that has just emerged from a recession, the costs of
operation have become the centre of focus for players in the global shipping
industry. Grama (2012) explains how the global recession has had on the liner
shipping industry starting with an evaluation of the impact it has on freight
charges and the profitability of the organisations. This article places the
question of costs at the centre of the considerations made by the organisation.
It reiterates the position of Dinwoodie (2012) which is that industry players
only consider the question of sustainability after profitability and the need
to cut costs. This is also the view taken by Wang (2010) whose article
highlight the cost of reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions.
Wang (2010) discusses the cost of
sustainability and the tools embraced by the governments and industry players
to help in reducing the level of carbon emissions. Among the tools mentioned
are Emission Levy, Energy Efficiency Operational Index, and Emission Trading
System (ETS). He points out that these tools increase the cost of conservation
and observes the fact that by the time the industry is able to cut down
emissions by 25%, the efforts will not be economically sustainable (Wang,
2010). Tzannatos (2010) on the other
hand adopts a balanced view where he analyses the costs and benefits of cutting
carbon emissions. He emphasises the need for players in the industry to embrace
measures to reduce carbon emissions holding that the industry is among the
major contributors to environmental degradation. He draws reference from
international convention for the reduction of pollution by ships and cites the
fact that sustainability is imperative if the industry is to play its part in
conserving the environment. Citing Greece as an example, Tzannatos (2010)
emphasises the fact that conservation is imperative as it is the only way
through which quality of life can be assured for the 98% of the population that
lives within 100km distance from the water bodies.
Fuel consumption is among the
considerations made by Dinwoodie (2012). He observes the fact that conservation
and cost cutting goals can be achieved concurrently as ships can reduce fuel
consumption by regulating the speed of the ships while in transit. While
acknowledging its importance, Dinwoodie appreciates the fact that conservation
is not the main consideration made by industry practitioners and that they tend
to adopt it as one of the minor strategies. On the opposite side of the
argument, Tsioumani (2008) showcases the grave importance of the sustainability
agenda by explaining the initiatives taken to push for conservation at the
global level. This importance is reiterated by Nast (2013) who acknowledges
that global climate change is a threatening phenomenon that needs to be tackled
by all players including the shipping industry. He proposes a raft of solutions
which include enhanced controls on emissions and improved engine manufacturing
technology.
In conclusion, it is clear that there
are mixed views on the prioritisation of the conservation agenda. This implies
that the challenge of conservation could be related to lack of interest in the
industry. The research issue is therefore to diagnose the level of interest in
conservation and measures that can be taken to improve it.
The research question should be: how can
the level of interest in conservation be improved within the shipping industry?
An analysis of the issue above indicates that the shipping industry players
tend to ignore the need for conservation and only engage in it as a means to cut
costs. This attitude could hamper efforts to achieve greater conservation as
there may be times when meaningful conservation calls for the industry players
to be willing to sacrifice some of their profits for the good of the society.
Relegating conservation to a rank behind saving costs and saving fuel means
that it can always be foregone when the higher priorities are not achieved.
The objective would be to establish
measures that can be taken to improve the levels of interest in conservation.
It is important to appreciate that there are many legal provisions and laws
that compel organisations to be responsible in their operations to conserve the
environment. However, the law only stipulates the minimum measures realisable.
Generating high levels of interest in conservation is likely to lead to
creative solutions being generated that would ensure that carbon emissions are
maintained at their minimum. It will also explore the perceptions of shippers
on what more needs to be done by government and other agencies in facilitating
conservation.
On the use of CILT to acquire materials
for study, the main ethical issue is on refraining from distributing the
material downloaded illegally. Access to the materials is restricted for use by
the authorised users of the site. Unauthorised distribution would not only be
illegal but also unethical. The administrators of the site expect to be the
ones to distribute the material where they can dictate when certain materials
could be accessed. More importantly, the site is restricted to subscribers. It
is important that access to the materials is obtained through the authorised
subscription method. While it may be possible to use software and applications
that can override the subscription process, these alternative approaches are
unethical. Only access granted by the administrators of the site can be
considered legal and ethical. In the subscription process, it is also expected
that information provided is accurate. This aspect is important as it could be
used by the organisation to develop a profile of its users. The other important
consideration is the need to acknowledge the source accordingly. Failure to do
so would be unethical and would amount to plagiarism and this would be
unethical.
In seeking to demystify the attitudes
towards conservation, it is important to appreciate the fact that business
organisations exist primarily for purposes of making profits and creating
wealth for the shareholders (Wang, 2010). It is also important to note that
businesses are in competition with each other for customers, employees and
investors. This means that the organisation that has a higher profitability is
likely to remain competitive due to its ability to attract talented employees
and investors. In many cases, conservation comes as a cost. For instance,
trading in carbon credits is a direct cost. The benefits are on the other hand
not obvious as they benefit the entire society almost equally. It is even more
difficult where it emerges that only few are willing to make the sacrifice
while their efforts to conserve the environment are reversed by players who may
not have much regard for the environment (Tzannatos, 2010). These
considerations lead to the need for business to transform the conservation
agenda into a source of advantage for the organisation.
The agenda to reduce the level of carbon
emissions ought to motivate the organisations to review their approaches to
operations very significantly. Even though it may be desirable that the
organisation is willing to forfeit some of its profits to advance the
conservation agenda, this sacrifice may not always be necessary (Nast, 2013).
The organisation may only need to be proactive in managing its operation
approaches and also seek for technological solutions. One of the ways that have
been proposed in efforts to reduce emissions is through the adoption of
appropriate technologies. Making use of better engine combustion systems can
greatly enhance the efficiency of fuel consumption. Other measures could
include consolidation of vessel business to ensure that shipments are large and
that smaller ships that make numerous unnecessary trips are removed from the
seas.
There is also need to link conservation
efforts to customer perceptions. Customers are believed to strongly value
conservation especially in light of the emerging threat to global climate
(Nast, 2013). They are therefore likely to perceive organisations that are keen
to conserve the environment very positively. Where this is undertaken as a
supply chain, the organisations within the supply chain can claim to be part of
an initiative and use the synergy to be more appealing to the market. Objective
measures could also be established by independent bodies to rank organisations
according to their level of achievement in conserving the environment. The
market can then be sensitized to purchase more from the organisations under the
group.
The conceptual framework for the
research can therefore be summarised as in the table below:
Independent
variables
|
Dependent
variable
|
Overall reduction of cost
|
Effective contribution to the
reduction of carbon emissions
|
Improvement of technology and
equipment quality
|
|
Generation of good brand image as
green company
|
|
Greater cooperation along the supply
chain
|
Grama, I.G., 2012. The Influence of the Global
Economic Crisis on the Evolution of Liner Shipping Market. Economics, Management and Financial Markets 7(4), pp. 632-641
Kjeldsen, K.H., 2009. Classification of Ship Routing
and Scheduling Problems in Liner Shipping.
INFOR, suppl. Special Issue in "Maritime Transportation" 49(2),
pp. 139-152
Nast, T., 2013. The Response of the International
Shipping Industry to Global Climate Change. Journal
of Maritime Law and Commerce 44(1), pp. 29-45
Panayides, P.M., Cullinane, K., 2002. Competitive
Advantage in Liner Shipping: A Review and Research Agenda. International Journal of Maritime Economics 4, pp. 189–209
Tsioumani, E., 2008. Marine Environment: Review of
Recent Developments. Environmental Policy
and Law 38(6), pp. 308,310-311
Tzannatos, E., 2010. Costs and benefits of reducing
SO2 emissions from shipping in the Greek seas. Maritime Economics & Logistics 12(3), pp. 280-294
Wang, H., 2010. Reducing GHG mitigation costs in the
shipping industry using the clean development mechanism. Management of Environmental Quality 21(4), pp. 452-463
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