"Virtually Zero" Chance of ECA Violators Being Caught, Says NABU

NABU says there is large financial incentive to ignore the rules.

Germany's Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) has in an emailed statement joined in the call for stricter enforcement of Emission Control Area (ECA) rules among members of the European Union (EU).

"At the moment there is a huge incentive for ship owners to be non-compliant as cheaters save ten thousands of Euros per passage through the European SECA if they use the dirty fuel and the chance to get caught is virtually zero," said NABU Head of Transport Policy Dietmar Oeliger. 

"Member states of the European Union definitely have to implement a sound grid of controls due to continuous monitoring devices on the ships' smoke stacks, drones, mobile and stationary measurement stations and coast guard patrols in order to resolve this grievance," he said, adding that both penalties and prosecutions have to be raised. 

The group admitted that hard compliance numbers are not yet fully available, but that it expects the number of ships being non-compliant to be "well over acceptable levels."

"Since regulation for the shipping industry came late anyway we should safeguard its proper implementation in order to profit from this source's tremendous potential to reduce air pollution at a great cost-benefit ratio, he said. 

Data presented earlier this month by Sara Rokpe, head of department at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, suggested that while 6 percent of vessels were non-compliant, only 2 percent of spot checked vessels were likely to have been burning cheaper fuel oil bunkers as they had sulfur levels above 0.3 percent.

Ship and Bunker previously reported that various organizations and companies, including Maersk and the Danish Ecological Council, have been criticising the European ECA for what they say is lack of effective enforcement.