EMEA News
DFDS: EU Should Help Fund Scrubbers for Short Sea Shipping
European Union (EU) nations should release sustainable infrastructure and transportation funds to help the short-sea shipping industry adapt to new emissions rules, Niels Smedegaard, CEO of Danish shipping and logisitics company DFDS told industry news site ShippingWatch.
"There are so many questions that are completely unresolved, which is why we have to appeal to EU politicians and governments, including Denmark, to temporarily redirect some of the many funds that are currently placed in various infrastructure programs established to support the long term ambitions of pushing traffic from the roads and onto the sea," he said.
DFDS applied to European anti-pollution programs Marco Polo and TEN-T for funds to support its investment in exhaust gas scrubbers for its ships, but it was turned down.
Smedegaard said the EU should put more money into ship improvements rather than focusing on ports and railroads, especially with new sulfur rules in the European Emissions Control Areas (ECAs) coming into effect at the start of 2015.
"We have just about a year left before the rules come into effect and it typically takes 10-11 months from the decision to install a scrubber is made to when the scrubber is fully installed on a ship," he said.
"So time is running out, and we need to act within the next few months.
"If not, the consequences could be significant from January 1st 2015, where an increasing number of trucks could lead to congested roads throughout Europe."
Finland has already agreed to spend about $40 million to subsidise ship scrubbers as part of what the minister of transport has called a "vital" effort "to achieve a genuine impact on adaptation."
DFDS said last month that it would spend £34.5 million ($53.7 million) on scrubber systems for eight ships in 2014.
