The UK & PI Club has witnessed an increase in the number of members being fined as a result of a breach or alleged breach of Marpol Annex IV Regulations.
As a result, the association aimed at reminding its members about the following points:
- Ships trading in designated emission control areas (ECAs) must not use fuel oil on board with a sulphur content exceeding 0.10%.
- ECAs currently cover the North Sea, Baltic Sea, North American coastline and US Caribbean.
- Outside the ECAs, with a few exceptions, the worldwide sulphur cap on fuel oil is set at 3.5%, for passenger ships the cap is 1.5%.
Exceptions to the rules mentioned above are as follows:
| Vessels Positions | Level of Sulphur Content in the fuel |
| European Countries | Australia | Hong Kong | Turkey | |
| Berth or anchored in an EU port | not more than 0.10% | |||
| EU territorial waters and exclusive economic area outside ECA | Not more than 3.5% | |||
| Passenger vessels which come or go in EU port | 1.5% of sulphur content | |||
| All cruise ships berthing in Sydney and New South Wales Ports after 1st October 2015 and 1st July 2016 respectively | 0.10% or < 0.10% | |||
| Ocean-going vessels | Not more than 0.5% | |||
| All vessels arriving at Turkish port and all inland vessels sailing on Turkish inland waters | Not more than 0.10% by mass in all vessels | |||
| Passengers vessels providing regular services in areas covered by Turkey’s marine jurisdiction | Not more than 1.5% |
Source: UK P&I Club
