An oil spill from a vessel is a critical maritime accident that can severely damage the environment. In this study; we utilize the basic construction of grey relational analysis to explore oil spill events statistics from 1974 to 2015 and successfully analyze the causes of incidents in 2016. The results illustrate that grey relational analysis effectively identifies the factors causing oil spills with an accuracy of over 96%. The research is aimed to reduce the marine accidents and predict the cause of oil spill in advance. The analysis is dealing with the incidents to approach the circumstance in various intensity of oil spill in the last 40 years. Moreover, an application of grey theory demonstrates accurate and reliable methodology to decision maker. Thus, the investigation can predict the causes of pollution from oil spill accidents in the future.

This paper addresses the growing concern over air pollutant emissions (NOx, SOx, PM, CO₂) from ocean-going vessels in harbor areas and the role of Onshore Power Supply (OPS) systems in mitigating these emissions during vessel berthing. However, the slow progress in global shore power facilities is attributed to safety- and specification-related concerns. Our study conducts a comprehensive analysis, comparing international shore power regulations, with a specific focus on the IEC/IEEE 80005-1 standard and guidelines from various ship classification societies. We introduce checklists, scoring tables, and spider diagrams to evaluate the regulatory content, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the significance of a well-defined operational process for high-voltage shore connection (HVSC) to ensure the safety of OPS operations. We present process diagrams for key operational stages, based on IEC/IEEE 80005-1 specifications and evaluation criteria. The ultimate goal of this research is to drive the global adoption of shore power and foster the establishment of shore power facilities worldwide. This aligns with the broader environmental protection objectives of achieving cleaner ports and reducing emissions for a sustainable future.

There is growing concern regarding air pollutants (NOx, SOx, and PM) and carbon emissions from ocean-going vessels in harbor areas and the role of high-voltage shore connection (HVSC) systems in mitigating these emissions during vessel berthing. The HVSC operates as a TN grounding system in humid environments, and it needs a proper grounding design to ensure safety when faults occur. This article intends to examine the overvoltage resulting from fault currents and its implications for the safety of operators when a single line-to-ground fault takes place within the design of HVSC grounding systems. The assessment is carried out by employing actual scenarios and parameters from a container berth at Kaohsiung Harbor in Taiwan. Considering site conditions, such as the wet ground surface, human body resistance, and electric shock duration, the tolerable safe voltage level is derived using IEEE Std. 80 and IEC 60479-1. Based on the shore power system grounding architecture specified in IEEE/IEC 80005-1, an equivalent circuit model is constructed to calculate the fault currents using symmetrical component analysis. The actual touch voltages generated in various locations are analyzed under scenarios of connecting or disconnecting the equipotential bonding between the ship and the shore using neutral grounding resistor (NGR) designs. This article delves into the scenarios of electric shock that may occur during the operation of an actual container ship’s shore power system. It evaluates whether various contact voltage values exceed current international standards and verifies the grounding design and safety voltage specifications of IEEE/IEC 80005-1. According to the results of this study, the use of NGR and protective earthed neutral (PEN) conductors in HVSC is crucial. This can limit fault currents, reduce touch voltage, and ensure the safety of personnel and equipment. Therefore, ensuring and monitoring equipment conductors and adopting NGRs of appropriate sizes are crucial elements in maintaining electrical safety in HVSC systems.

The paper presents a comparison of the fuel oil (FO) consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of a container ship’s 8000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) during oceanographic navigation. The evaluation has two types of FOs: a 3.4% heavy fuel oil with desulfurization (HFOWD) and a 0.5% very-low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), based on the sulfur cap policy of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The results show the average FO consumption at 130 tons/day of HFOWD and 141 tons/day of VLSFO, which means shifting to VLSFO increases fuel consumption 8.4% more than the HFOWD. The average CO₂ emissions are 429 tons/day of the HFOWD and 471 tons/day of the VLSFO, indicating an 9.5% increase in CO₂ emissions when the IMO adopts the low-sulfur fuel policy. Moreover, the VLSFO blending of various chemicals further deteriorates and wears out the main engine of the ship. IMO’s low-sulfur fuel policy significantly reduced the emission of sulfur oxides (SO_X) and particulate matter emissions. Still, we should not ignore the fact that adopting VLSFO may cause more CO₂ emissions. Therefore, while switching to low-sulfur fuels, the maritime industry should improve the related energy efficiency to reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.

Light sources tend to affect images captured in any automatic optical inspection (AOI) system. In this study, the effectiveness of metal-halide lamps, quartz-halogen lamps, and LEDs as the light sources in AOI systems for the detection of the third and fourth layers electrodes of thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs) is examined experimentally. The results show that the performance of LEDs is generally comparable or better than that of metal-halide and quartz-halogen lamps. The best optical performance is by the blue LED due to its spectrum compatibility with the time-delay-integration charged-coupled device (TDI CCD) sensor and its better spatial resolution. The images revealed by the blue LED are sharper and more distinctive. Since current LEDs are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, using LEDs as the light source for AOI is very beneficial. As the blue LED performs the best, it should be adopted for AOI using TDI CCD sensors.