@thomasfuchs Some years ago I heard (from a person who worked with the shipping industry) that:
20 largest container ships create similar amounts of certain gas & particle pollutions than all of the consumer cars on the planet. But those ships are very weakly regulated, and largely registered to tax havens.
@autiomaa @thomasfuchs
A lot of ships have two fuel systems: an expensive fuel that's used within many countries' territorial waters, where regulations are tighter, and a cheap one that's used for the other 90% of the time.
@geobeck @thomasfuchs For sure, as many ports forbid use of the "cheap" system.
Cheap system uses so sticky oil that people can literally walk on top of it, if it's cold. Closer to asphalt than a regular processed oil cars would use.
@autiomaa @thomasfuchs
"Bunker fuel" is what's left on the bottom of a hydrocarbon reactor when everything else has been distilled. It's also called lube oil, but you wouldn't use it to lubricate anything with tight tolerances. It's also used to make asphalt shingles.