Americas News
CSL Appeals to U.S. Authorities on Emission Rules
Rod Jones, president and CEO of the CSL Group (CSL) on Tuesday testified at a U.S. government hearing that new ship emission rules are likely to increase air pollution by displacing cargo traffic from short sea shipping to road and rail.
Jones said that the planned drop in sulfur limits for ships operating in the North American Emission Control Area (ECA) next year would have a particularly large impact on short-sea shippers, which, unlike transoceanic shippers, travel almost exclusively inside the zone.
"CSL calculated that, on average, each ship would bear about $815,000 of additional annual fuel costs," he said.
"For CSL alone, the cost could exceed $14 million per year."
Jones suggested amending the ECA rules to affect short sea ships only within 50 nautical miles of shore, arguing that the ships' emissions have almost no impact on coastal air quality at that distance.
"This revision will move away from the current 'one size fits all' regulation and align with a scientifically based approach which achieves the same environmental protection goals," he said.
He added that short sea shipping is seven times more efficient than transportation by truck and 2.5 times more efficient than rail, which means any displacement of cargo to land transport could have an overall negative environmental impact.
Jones was joined in testifying at the hearing, convened by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, by Bill Terry, president and CEO of Eagle Rock Aggregates, a building materials company that uses short-sea shipping to transport its products.
CSL has also appealed to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to rethink emission rules for short sea shipping.
