EMEA News
UK Transport Minister "Disappointed" in Calls for ECA Delay
UK transport minister Stephen Hammond said he was disappointed that shipping companies are calling for a delay in the implementation of new sulfur limits in Emissions Control Areas (ECAs), local newspaper the Portsmouth News reports.
Hammond said the UK Chamber of Shipping had agreed in 2008 that the timetable for the implementation of the new international rules was realistic.
"It is not an action that has happened today, yesterday or even last year," he said.
"It is something the shipping industry has had over six years to get its head around."
He added that the new ECA rules are an international matter that the UK cannot simply delay.
Portsmouth North MP Penny Mourdaunt called for funding to help shipping companies make the deadline and asked Hammond for assurance that the changes would not have a negative impact on Portsmouth.
"Clearly as the deadline looms there are some businesses that are not as far forward as they would like to be," she said.
"We have got to enable them to meet the deadline."
UK officials from a number of port communities have been pushing for changes to the implementation of the new rules to prevent negative effects for shipping companies.
