# Harnessing AI for Sustainable Shipping and Green Ports: Challenges and Opportunities
## 1 Introduction  
The maritime industry plays a pivotal role in global trade, facilitating the movement of approximately 90% of the world's goods. However, this sector is also a significant contributor to environmental pollution, accounting for around 2.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The environmental footprint of shipping includes not only carbon dioxide (CO\({}_{2}\)) emissions but also sulfur oxides (SO\({}_{\rm x}\)), nitrogen oxides (NO\({}_{\rm x}\)), and particulate matter (PM) like black carbon (BC) all of which pose substantial risks to marine and coastal ecosystems as well as human health [1; 2; 3; 4]. Pollution from ships at sea has very serious environmental consequences. The shipping industry must take responsibility like all other industries. In response to the concerns about the environment, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships (MARPOL), which describes environmental regulations that must be followed at the sea. MARPOL was originally introduced by the IMO to deal with pollution from oil spills. However, further categories havebeen added to deal with other forms of pollution, and MARPOL now consists of six annexes, which show categories of possible threats coming out from vessels [5; 6; 7; 8]: Annex I--Pollution by Oil (All ships), Annex II--Noxious and Liquid Substances, Annex III--Harmful substances carried in Packaged form, Annex IV--Sewage, Annex V--Garbage, and Annex VI--Air Pollution. The next large contributor of global warming is black carbon (BC), commonly known as soot, which has partly accelerated the melting of the Arctic Sea ice. Climate science now views BC as the second or third largest warming agent after carbon dioxide (CO\({}_{2}\)) or methane. It consists of tiny particles produced by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The way BC warms the atmosphere differs from that of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It absorbs solar energy very efficiently and then transfers it to the atmosphere via its particles. It also could darken ice and snow, thereby leading to their quick warming and melting. With growing scientific clarity on the contribution of black carbon to climate change, the benefits of limiting its emissions are becoming more evident [9]. The marine industry must deal with a few potential threats for environment (Figure 1):  
1. [leftmargin=1.5 cm]
2. [leftmargin=1.5 cm]
3. [rightmargin=1  
In terms of propulsion, the technology is based on a solution called liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC). This involves releasing hydrogen from chemical compounds that allow it to be stored. Importantly, the resulting hydrogen is free of explosive properties. As a result, the use of this gas for ship propulsion is completely safe. Ammonia produced from hydrogen can also be an alternative to hydrogen fuel cells in maritime transport. Although the conversion of hydrogen to ammonia results in energy losses, it is more cost-effective than H\({}_{2}\) liquefaction. A common challenge in the widespread use of hydrogen is its storage due to the relatively low energy density of the gas, which becomes problematic for longer voyages. Initial efforts are therefore focused on smaller vessels or those that frequently dock in ports. However, it is hoped that technological advances will soon allow us to solve this problem and fully exploit the potential of this gas. To reduce the number of harmful emissions in ports and transform them into green ports, ships are now being equipped with the alternate maritime power system (AMP). AMP is an anti-pollution measure designed to reduce air pollution from diesel generators by substituting shore-based electric power. AMP is employed when a ship is moored at a port, allowing the ship's diesel engines to be kept turned off. This significantly lowers the ship's emissions. This practice is also known as cold ironing.