Leading environmental organizations and the international shipping industry have joined forces and unitedly call for an explicit ban on non-compliant fuel on board ships from 2020.
The ban
Following the global sulphur cap target adopted by UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO), which comes into force by 1 January 2020, ship owners must urge to meet the compliance requirements.
The regulation will limit sulphur emissions from ships from 3.5 pct. to 0.5 pct. Danish Shipping supports the environmental requirement due to the emissions impact on the environment and public health. However, without robust and effective enforcement the regulation will put the global level playing field at risk.
A joint call
A sturdy call from the NGO’s and the shipping industry is raised in support of the proposal, to ban non-compliant fuel on board ships, unless they are fitted with a scrubber installation.
Two proposals on such a ban have been tabled by Norway and Cook Islands, as well a united international shipping industry. The proposals will be discussed at the upcoming Pollution, Prevention and Response (PPR) meeting at IMO in the beginning of February, this year.
Director speaks
“Danish Shipping has together with our members put a lot of work into the industry proposal and we believe an explicit ban on non-compliant fuel, is a simple and straightforward method to ensure that the Sulphur requirement does not give any opportunity to circumvent the regulation by burning fuel with an illegal content of Sulphur,” says Maria Skipper Schwenn, Director at Danish Shipping.
She expresses her strong support towards this joint call and says, “Danish Shipping has for several years worked together with NGOs such as the Danish Ecological Council arguing that this costly regulation needs to be followed by effective enforcement. We have the exact same aim: Cleaner environment and a level playing field. The strong message from these leading international environmental organizations and the industry sends an unprecedented clear signal to the IMO Member States. I can hardly imagine that the Member States who adopted the Sulphur regulation will not support effective enforcement in order to make sure that environmental benefits as well as level playing field is ensured”.
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Source: Danish Shipping
