New North American rules on cleaner ship fuel
A long-planned environmental regulation requiring ships to use cleaner, low-sulphur fuel while operating near the North American coast took effect this week despite concerns that suppliers may not be ready, Cargonews Asia reports.
The North American Emissions Control Area (ECA) will see the world's top oil consumer join other regions like the European Union in imposing sulphur limits on marine fuel, typically the most polluting of all oil products. The ECA sets a cap at just one percent sulphur within 200 miles of the coast versus a three percent standard in the past.
The shipping industry says the new norms may cause a sharp rise in prices as refiners pass on the higher cost of producing cleaner fuel. Some worry that not all will be prepared.
"We'll know in a couple of weeks or a month whether (availability) will be an issue," said Chris Koch, president of the World Shipping Council, a trade association based in Washington DC and Brussels, that represents the global liner shipping sector of container ships and car carriers.
"The EPA and the Coast Guard have worked together very closely on this. They realise that if a ship can't find the fuel, OK they can't find the fuel."
The Environmental Protection Agency, which will regulate the programme, said in its initial rule published over two years ago that the overall cost of the scheme would come to US$3.2 billion by 2020. The Office of Transportation and Air Quality said it would prevent as many as 14,000 premature deaths by reducing nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and fine particulate matter.
"But it's been something that everybody recognised would be undertaken and approved to improve air quality in North America," said Koch. "It's not a surprise. It's an environmental regulation whose time has come."