# Sustainability Challenges in Maritime Transport and Logistics Industry and Its Way Ahead
## 1 Introduction  
As far as sustainability issues in the shipping, port, and maritime logistics sectors (hereinafter _maritime transport and logistics_) are concerned, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has great influence, directly and indirectly, because the IMO Convention describes its fundamental purpose as the conservation and \"sustainable\" use of oceans and their resources. As a result, the IMO has adopted several protocols and regulations in association with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), such as the London Convention and Protocol (LC/LP), the Hong Kong Ship Recycling Convention and Annex VI Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships (entered into force 19 May 2005) of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). In particular, thanks to \"the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development\" with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN on September 2015, the IMO, as a part of the UN, has developed several important regulations related to the SDGs as listed above. Broadly, sustainability covers three key dimensions such as environmental, economic, and social, which are applied to many areas, including maritime transport and logistics [1]. Out of the three, the environmental dimension is widely addressed in the literature (e.g., [2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10]), mostly in relation to ships and port equipment. The former generates gas emissions at sea, in particular, in emission control areas (ECAs), and within ports, while the latter does, in association with the former and container trucks within ports. This Special Issue, however, does not consider the gas emissions generated by container trucks on the road from the origin of the cargoes to the ports. While ships are calling at, and loading/discharging cargoes in, ports, they emit greenhouse gas (GHG), such as NOx, Sox, CO2,and particulate matter (PM). Recent literature has estimated the GHG amount emitted [11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16] and the impact on the health of residents living adjacent to the ports [17; 18; 19]. However, international organizations and stakeholders are less active in dealing with environmental issues in the shipping and port sector because the sector has not only less interaction with cities but is also remote from city life as compared to the aviation and overland transportation sectors. Among the several international organizations, the IMO has played the leading role in taking several measures to reduce the GHG from ships in collaboration with ship owners/operators and shipbuilders. The key measure is the MARPOL Convention which was adopted on 2 November 1973 at IMO. Since then, several related annexes have been adopted. In 2011, IMO adopted mandatory measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships' exhausts. The Annex VI regulates limits of SOx, NOx, and particulate matters (PMs) emissions from ships, prevents emissions of ozone-depleting substances and designates emission control areas (ECAs) with standards for the three gases. The IMO has designated four regions as ECAs: The Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the US Caribbean and the coastal waters of Canada and the United States. Responding to the IMO's initiative for ECAs and recognizing that the sulfur levels in marine bunker fuel alone are 100 to 3500 times higher than that permitted in on-road diesel fuel in China, the Chinese government has taken an experimental measure to introduce ECAs in January 2019. A report shows estimated data that \"a medium- to large-size container ship running at 70% maximum power for one day using bunker fuel with 35,000 ppm (3.5%) sulfur emits as much PM2.5, equal to the average of half a million new trucks in China in the same time period\" [20]. If winds blow from the East Sea to the Chinese land side, the large amounts of gas emissions may affect residents of the cities along the Chinese coastline.