Since the mid 2000s,
the shipping industry has been required to meet standards on air pollution. However, the sector and its supply chain are facing an uncertain future as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) prepares to strengthen regulations at the end of the year, and the “stakes are high for operators,” says Duygu Doğan, senior associate at Kılınç Law & Consulting.
As of 2005, ship operators have had to control the level of sulphur oxides (SOx) their fleets produce under Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Shi ps (MARPOL Convention). SOx, a byproduct of burning the unrefined heavy bunker fuel, is known to be harmful to people and the planet but the damage it causes can be catastrophic, as Doğan explains: “Sulphur oxides have been linked with respiratory problems in humans and acid rain.”
According to HSBC Oil and Gas Research, a single container ship burning 80 tonnes of fuel per day emits the same amount of sulphur oxides as 46 million diesel cars. A Finnish study published in 2016 warned their adverse health effects could result in more than 570,000 premature deaths worldwide between 2020-25. With statistics like that, it is no surprise steps are being taken to cut levels of emissions even further.
In 2008 the IMO strengthened its global emissions limits and introduced Sulphur Emissions Control Areas (ECAS), where even more robust requirements applied. The global limit was set at 3.5% m/m (mass by mass) and just 0.1% in ECAS, which covers coastal areas of the Baltic Sea and North Sea, Canada and the US, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
On 1 January 2020 those limits will be cut again: “The IMO’s new regulations require the sulphur content of ships’ fuel to be cut dramatically, from 3.5% to 0.5%,” explains Doğan. “Alternatively, the regulations allow ship operators to fit scrubbers, which spray alkaline water over exhaust emissions, capturing sulphur oxides.”
The challenge these regulations pose the industry – comprising more than 94,000 vessels, according to the United Nations – are significant, with concerns that many are not ready: “Ship operators are racing to achieve compliance by the end of the year, but the shift to low sulphur emissions is proving costly,” says Doğan. “Low sulphur fuels cost more, and the installation of scrubbers typically costs between $5m and $10m per ship.”
