Page 202 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2023

CLIMATE CHANGE & SHIPPING
Shipping is a particularly sensitive industry regarding the climate crisis, which is
now unquestionably accepted by the vast majority of scientists who study the atmosphere
and the climate.
THE CONSEQUENCES
OF CLIMATE CHANGE
ON THE SMOOTH OPERATION
OF THE MARITIME INDUSTRY
By Dr Nikos Mazarakis,
PhD, General Manager
at StormGeo Greece
202
Compared to three decades ago, the
direct or indirect consequences of cli-
mate change create huge disruptions in
the smooth operation of the maritime
industry in many cases and different
areas of the world. But how does climate
change affect the shipping industry?
One of the most severe conse-
quences of climate change is perhaps
the increased frequency of extreme
weather events, such as heat waves,
torrential rainfalls with very high pre-
cipitation rates, and tropical cyclones in
oceanic regions. For instance, in 2020,
the number of tropical systems formed
in the North Atlantic Ocean broke all
previous records, reaching a total of
30, surpassing the previous record of
25 in 2005. In fact, their number was
so large that the National Hurricane
Center (NHC) decided to stop using
the Greek alphabet when the number
of storms exceeded 21 in a hurricane
season. The reason behind the abolition
of the Greek alphabet used in naming
tropical lows was that names such as
“Theta”, “Iota”, etc. which were used at
the time, created enormous confusion
for American citizens unfamiliar with
Greek letters. In addition, there has