Postponing 0.50% Sulfur Cap to 2025 May be Considered Politically Unacceptable: ICS

IMO is set to make a decision on the matter at MEPC 70 in October.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Monday said that it may be "politically unacceptable" for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to defer the implementation of a 0.50 percent global sulfur cap from 2020 to 2025.

Writing in its Annual Review 2016, ICS said that while IMO is supposed to be making the decision based on whether there will be enough compliant fuel to meet demand, as informed by its fuel availability study: "In reality the decision taken by IMO is likely to be a political one."

"Although the cap will apply in the middle of the ocean, where very few people live, it was adopted by IMO Member States in order to reduce risks to human health and to improve the marine environment (sulphur being a cause of ocean acidification).

"Even if the supply of compliant fuel is projected to be tight, IMO Member States might nevertheless conclude that it is politically unacceptable to postpone implementation."

ICS also drew attention to the fact that, irrespective of what that IMO decides, from 2020 the European Union (EU) has already agreed that it will implement a 0.50 percent sulfur cap within 200 miles of its members' coast line.

"In theory, if the IMO global cap was postponed this would create a narrow corridor along the coast of North Africa in which the use of cheaper fuel would still be acceptable, while elsewhere in the Mediterranean it would not, a situation which EU Member States at IMO might find difficult to accept," ICS said.

The findings of the fuel availability study are set to be presented in October at the 70th session of IMO's Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC 70), when a decision on the matter is also expected to be made.