NASA Publishes Satellite Evidence of IMO 2020's Benefits

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday October 19, 2022

US space exploration body NASA has published new evidence showing the impact of the IMO 2020 emissions change for shipping.

A new NASA study has shown ship tracks -- cloud lines formed by water vapor interacting with ship exhaust, visible in satellite imagery -- have reduced significantly since the change. The IMO cut the global sulfur content limit for bunker fuel from 3.5% to 0.50% from the start of 2020.

Earlier emission regulations for shipping like the 0.1% emission control area in North America from 2015 did not have the same impact, as ships changed routes and charted longer courses to avoid the tighter rules where possible, NASA's researchers found.

While COVID-19 may have had a part in cutting shipping activity in 2020, the IMO 2020 regulation played the dominant role in the reduction of ship tracks, NASA said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

"While analysing 2020 data, the researchers found that ship-track density fell that year in every major shipping lane," the organisation said.

"Ship-based tracking data indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic played a role by decreasing global shipping traffic by 1.4% for a few months.

"But this change alone could not explain the large decrease in observed ship tracks, which remained at record-low levels through several months of 2021 (the most recent data analysed).

"The researchers concluded that the new global fuel regulation played the dominant role in reducing ship tracks in 2020."

Ship & Bunker News Team
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