Influence of Emission-Control Areas on the Eco-Shipbuilding Industry: A Perspective of the Synthetic Control Method

Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention), adopted in October 2008, was dedicated to addressing environmental issues caused by ships, especially in ports, inland waterways, and some sea areas with concentrated routes and high navigational density. This study utilizes a regional-level ship dataset to assess the influences of emission-control areas (ECAs) on the ecological shipbuilding industry by fitting the policy utility through the synthetic control method and testing robustness via the difference-in-differences method. The outcomes of this study show that the cumulative new orders for eco-designed ships in China, The Netherlands, Republic of Korea, the UK, and the USA increased by 3401, 81, 234, 549, and -1435, respectively, after the implementation of ECAs. Compared to the implementation of ECAs, the increases were about 32%, 20%, 41%, 66%, and -83%, respectively.