EMEA News
Minimal Financial Gain for Majority of ECA Offenders, Data Suggests
The majority of vessels not complying with the latest European Emissions Control Area (ECA) fuel rules are likely seeing little financial gain as a result, according to data presented by Sara Rokpe, head of department at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency at a recent Sustainable Shipping forum, Seatrade Maritime reports.
Rokpe says that overall, compliance with the January 1, 2015 introduction of a 0.10 percent sulfur cap on bunkers used within ECAs has been "very high," and while AP Møller-Mærsk noted that non-compliance levels were as high as 6 percent, only 2 percent of spot checked vessels indicated sulfur levels above 0.3 percent.
The sulfur content of cheaper HFO bunkers is much higher than 0.3 percent, at a global average of around 2.6 percent.
As such, the findings suggest that the majority two thirds of non-compliant vessels are likely to have still been burning (albeit non-compliant) distillate fuel, meaning their financial benefit would have been limited to the often minimal discount for MGO over LSMGO.
This compares to a typical minimum of $200 per metric tonne (pmt) savings to be had from burning HFO.
The compliance data came from 1,443 observations using bridge-based emissions "sniffer" technology, and 407 observations from aircraft.
The new ECA rules - along with the high level of compliance - has been attributed to reducing Denmark's sulfur emissions at coastal waters by 60 percent.
The reduction was measured at Anholt off the Danish coast and pertains to between January to May this year, and compared to the average for 2011 to 2014.
Earlier this week Ship & Bunker reported that Niels Bjorn Mortensen, head of regulatory affairs at AP Møller-Mærsk, said that current efforts to uphold Northern Europe ECA rules has left much to be desired.
