The Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced this week, via their joint 2016 Action Plan, that Denmark will continue to strengthen its enforcement of sulphur emissions in both Denmark and sulphur Emission Control Area (ECA) countries.
The goal of the 2016 Action Plan, made in cooperation with the Danish Shipowners’ Association, is to further pursue the experiences gained by the authorities in 2015 through both port control and air surveillance in order to improve enforcement of International Maritime Organization (IMO) emission standards. The 2016 plan also supports many of the efforts and initiatives that were made in the first 2014 Action Plan, including increasing the number of controls on the sulphur content of ships’ fuel.
The 2016 Action Plan also includes initiatives that will focus on the development of drone surveillance and sniffer technologiesfollowing successful use last year. The Action Plan will focus on fuel suppliers to make it possible for merchant ships to comply with IMO sulphur emission requirements. Self-regulation will be encouraged by promoting technology investments that reduce sulphur emissions to make it possible for ship owners to comply and to supplement the efforts made by the authorities.
In order to facilitate tighter control, data collection from various sources is vital and will therefore require international cooperation in the European Union (EU) and the IMO to enable sulphur ECA country authorities to optimise their enforcement.
To view the 2016 Action Plan, please click here.
