EMEA News
Baltic Sea ECA Leads to "Radical" Fall in SOx Emissions: Finnish Meteorological Institute
The Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) says a report presented by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, "Emissions from Baltic Sea shipping in 2015," at the HELCOM Maritime Working Group meeting last month suggested a "radical" fall in SOx emissions related to Baltic Sea's sulfur emission control area (ECA).
The lead up to the January 1, 2015 implementation of a 0.1 percent cap on sulfur content in marine fuels is said to have led to an 88 percent reduction in SOx emissions during the the years from 2006 to 2015.
The report further suggests that overall emissions from all ships operating in the Baltic Sea during the 2015 year amounted to 342 kt of NOx, 10 kt of SOx, 10 kt of particulate matter (PM), 23 kt of CO, and 15.9 mt of CO2 - most of which is attributable to RoPaX vessels, tankers, cargo ships, and container ships.
"From the presented data we can observe that there is a huge decrease of sulfur emissions in the region caused by the introduction of 0.1 percent limit for the sulfur content in marine fuel," Bogdan Oldakowski, BPO Secretary General.
"There are other regulations to be introduced in the region in years to come, including obligatory discharge of sewage to port reception facilities or NECA. As discussed at the last BPO Conference, Baltic can serve as a model region for clean ports and maritime transport for other regions in the EU, if not globally."
The data used in the report is said to have been compiled based on over 1.65 billion Automatic Identification System (AIS)-messages provided by 21,616 vessels, 8,404 of which were registered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as commercial marine traffic.
In July, Ship & Bunker reported that the European Commission (EC) was seeking to undertake a new study that would focus on bunker suppliers as part of its obligations under MARPOL Annex VI.
