IMO to Consider Establishment of Designated Fuel Sampling Point for Sulfur Regs Compliance

IMO, at MEPC 70 last week, approved guidelines for taking samples from ships to verify compliance with sulfur limits placed on marine fuel.

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) says the International Maritime Organization (IMO) last week at the 70th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70) approved guidelines for taking samples from ships to verify compliance with sulfur limits placed on marine fuel, and will consider a proposal from Norway for the establishment of a designated sampling point for verifying compliance.

"We believe this would strengthen and contribute to a harmonised enforcement of the sulfur requirements, facilitate the work of the personnel that would draw the fuel oil samples, ensure that representative fuel oil samples are taken in a cost-effective and safe manner, and will reduce the likelihood of any disputes following a test that shows the use of non-compliant fuel oil," said Norway in its proposal.

Unni Einemo, IBIA's representative at IMO, says the establishment of a designated sampling point would address concerns around safety of personnel involved in sample collection, standardise the sampling point, and bring uniformity to compliance verification.

"This is really important as we have heard examples of ships being deemed in non-compliance with ECA sulfur limit on the basis of the first sample taken, while a second sample, deemed to be more representative of the fuel in use, tested compliant," said Einemo.

"There would be a clear benefit for both the ship crew and ports State control officers to have a designated sampling point, providing of course the location is appropriately chosen to give confidence that the sample will be representative of the fuel in use."

Norway's proposal, which is said to have received support from a number of other countries,suggests a gradual phase-in of the requirement for ships' designated fuel sampling points, requiring an amendment to regulation 14 of MARPOL Annex VI, and facilitating compliance checks when the 0.5 percent global cap on sulfur in marine fuel takes effect.

Several shipping organisations are said to have objected to the proposal, disagreeing that a system of taking samples from ships should be formalised, arguing that indeed any sampling should only be conducted if there is a significant enough reason to suspect non-compliance.

It was further suggested that costs arising from fuel sampling and testing for compliance, initiated by port state control officers, should not be charged to shipowners.

The proposal is set to be submitted to the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) for development, and to the Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) for consideration of safety aspects.