Under the new global cap, ships will have to use fuel oil with a maximum of 0.5% sulphur content
By
Rebecca Gibson |
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set 1 January 2020 as the deadline for ships to comply with a requirement to use marine fuels with less than 0.5% sulphur content.
The IMO confirmed its decision to introduce the global cap during the 70th Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in London on 27 October.
Under the new global cap, ships will have to use fuel oil with a maximum of 0.5% sulphur content, rather than 3.5%, which has been the limit since 1 January 2012. Exemptions are provided for situations involving the safety of the ship or saving life at sea, or if a ship or its equipment is damaged.
Ships can meet the requirement by using low-sulphur compliant fuel oil, methanol or LNG. Other approved methods include using installing exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers), which clean the emissions before they are released into the atmosphere. In this case, the equivalent arrangement must be approved by the ship’s flag state.
“The reductions in sulphur oxide emissions resulting from the lower global sulphur cap are expected to have a significant beneficial impact on the environment and on human health, particularly that of people living in port cities and coastal communities, beyond the existing emission control areas,” said Kitack Lim, IMO secretary general.
Further work to ensure the effective implementation of the 2020 global sulphur cap will continue in the sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response.
The new global cap will not change the limits in sulphur emission Emission Control Areas established by IMO, which have capped sulphur limits at 0.1% since 1 January 2015. The ECAs are in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, North American area (covering designated coastal areas off the US and Canada), and the US Caribbean Sea area around Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.