Fall In SOx Levels And ECA Regulations Have Boosted Local Shipyard Business
The monitoring station at the Victoria harbour in western Canada experiences a drop in SOx levels that is six years low.
The Canadian cruise port monitoring station in Victoria harbour has recorded no cruise ship-related breach of air-emissions standards during the 2015 cruise season, despite a record number of cruise vessels calling at the port.
Their record began in 2009 and the Air quality readings of 2015 were the best.
Strict Emission Control Area Regulations and the introduction of a tighter sulphur cap for marine fuels in the North American and European ECAs have contributed to this fall in sulphur oxide (SOx) levels. These rules have also boosted business for a local shipyard, the Esquimalt Graving Docks.
The ECA rules have given a temporary exemption to fit exhaust gas cleaning systems or the exhaust scrubbers to vessels who have committed to fit the scrubbers.
Source: Times Colonist
