First it was cars, then planes, now shipping.

There has been one major form of transportation which seems, at least until now, to have largely escaped any media attention; I suspect they have simply kept quiet themselves whilst watching the flak aimed at others. But no secret remains so forever, and finally, a mainstream media source, Reuters, has pointed the finger at shipping, which some analysts claim emits almost as much CO2 as the airline industry.

"In Los Angeles alone, the ships in port spew more pollution than the metro area's six million cars combined"

"the trillion-dollar industry, which carries around 90 percent of world trade by volume on about 50,000 merchant ships, also accounts for about 10 percent of global sulphur dioxide emissions, a cause of acid rain, as well as large amounts of toxic nitrous oxide and particulate emissions."

I wonder how long it will be before the tabloids and the ragtops pick this one up and start advising their readers to take the chunnel, rather than the ferry, to France? Or perhaps the embattled aviation industry will use this as a stick with which to point blame at others?