The Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association (EGCSA) has welcomed the findings from a CE Delft study that outlines that low-sulphur marine fuel will be sufficiently available by 2020 in order to allow ship owners and operators to comply with the 0.5% global sulphur fuel cap.
The report, which was commissioned by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) shows that the refining capacity will provide enough low-sulphur marine fuel as demand from other sectors for distillates has slowed. This means that there is no reason to delay the introduction of the global sulphur cap until 2025.
Through the study, CE Delft looked into the global low sulphur fuel supply and demand, fuel oil market trends and other issues relevant to MARPOL Annex VI in the run up to a global sulphur limit, of which the entry into force date will be decided upon during MEPC 70 this October. Aimed at ascertaining the compliant fuel oil availability, the study helps to determine whether implementing the 2020 global sulphur cap will give ship owners and operators to prepare and adopt the quantity of cleaner fuels or technologies in time.
In line with MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 14, the CE Delft study assumes that ships will use fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 0.1% in ECAs or for smaller engines, and fuels with a sulphur content of up to 0.5% outside these areas from January 1, 2020.
There has previously been industry concern that delaying the cap until 2025 would not only be unnecessary in light of the impact to the environment and human health that SOx emissions have, but also that a delay could result in early adopters of clean fuel and technologies such as marine scrubbers, being penalised. Furthermore, delaying the global cap could also result in heightened insecurity costs for shipping as patchwork local ECAs pre-empt delaying the global one.
EGCSA has previously stated that the availability of marine scrubbers will be abundant for the 2020 global sulphur cap and now that sufficient availability of low-sulphur fuel has been confirmed, the necessary resources and systems will ensure compliance with a global cap in 2020 is possible, and therefore delaying until 2025 could be detrimental to the efforts the global industry is making towards aligning itself with the Paris Agreement target to limit warming to at least 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.
EGCSA director Donald Gregory commented: “Putting off a decision on the 2020 global sulphur cap until another MEPC meeting in 2017 or 2018 will end up affecting introduction of the cap and is likely to lead to a delay till 2025. Without a firm decision now, the shipping industry is set to suffer from uncertainty and the world from emissions that pose a risk to health and the environment.”
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