Europe prepares for pollution compliance chaos

Northern European regulators are expecting to battle with shipping lines over new European Union (EU) rules aimed at cutting pollution from ship fuels, in the belief that some owners may find it cheaper to pay fines rather than comply, according to Reuters.

The new rules, which come into force in next January (2015), will require all ships operating in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and English Channel to use fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.1%; typically heavy fuel or bunker oils contain 2.5% to 3% sulphur on average, up to 3,000 times that of road fuel in Europe, according to marine campaigners Seas at Risk.

Shipping lines can comply by changing to low-sulphur marine gasoil, although this can cost four times as much as high-sulphur bunker fuel; another option is liquefied natural gas (LNG) although ships would need retrofitting and, as yet, there is not yet a reliable supply chain in place for LNG at many ports worldwide.  Alternatively they can continue to use conventional fuel oils with the addition of scrubbers to ‘clean’ emissions.