- Philippine Shipping Firms Must Comply with 0.50% Sulphur Cap by January 2025.
- MARINA Gives Guidelines for 0.50% Sulphur Limit in Philippine Domestic Shipping.
- Philippine Ships to Transition to Low-Sulphur Fuel by 2025, MARINA Announces.
The Republic of the Philippines’ Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) recently announced that the country’s domestic shipping industry would be subject to a 0.50% sulphur cap on bunker fuel, effective from 1 January 2025, reports Manifold Times.
Details of MARINA Advisory No. 2024-35
MARINA published Advisory No. 2024-35 on 22 October 2024, providing supplemental guidelines for the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of MARINA Circular No. SR-2020-06. This circular outlines the “Rules and Regulations on the Mandatory Use of 0.50% M/M Sulphur Limit on Fuel Oil for all Philippine Registered Ships in Compliance to Annex VI of MARPOL 73/78, as amended.”
Compliance Requirements for Domestic Ships
MARINA Circular No. SR2020-06 requires that ships using heavy sulphur fuel oil switch to fuel oil. The sulphur content is of 0.50% or lower by 1 January 2025. The advisory also stated that ships already using Distillates (MGO, MDO, IDO) or blends can shift to fuel oil with 0.50% mass/mass sulphur content. Moreover, these vessels are supposed to develop a Ship-specific Implementation Plan (SIP). This should be annexed to the vessel’s SMS Manual.
Extension of Compliance for Domestic Shipping Companies
The advisory clarified that domestic shipping companies can extend the compliance deadline according to the timelines in the SIP, provided that these timelines are validated by MARINA. However, no extension will be granted if there is no SIP submitted before 1 July 2024. The maximum extension allowed is five years.
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Source: Manifold Times
