RF shipping community considers NECA designation for the Baltic Sea to be premature
The conference “Ecology of Baltic navigation: in search of rational compromise” initiated by the RF Ministry of Transport in association with the RF Ministry of Natural Resources was held at the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS, St. Petersburg). The conference was organized by PortNews IAA within the framework of the project “Russian navigation in the Environment Year” announced pursuant to the RF Presidential Decree (No1157 dated August 10, 2012) and on the threshold of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM, March 5-6, Helsinki, Finland). One of the event’s key issues was the discussion of a possible designation of a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) for the Baltic Sea.
HELCOM Stakeholder Conference “Baltic Sea - NECA” proposed by Russia will be held in Helsinki on March 4, 2013. Prior to the Conference, Russian shipping community including representatives of shipping companies, port authorities and shipboard equipment manufacturers gathered to develop a consolidated position to be put forward by the Russian delegation at the HELCOM Conference in Helsinki.
According to the MARPOL Convention, the NECA status requires that all vessels built from January 1, 2016 onwards and operated in the area should be equipped with diesel installations meeting the Tier III standards. The participants think that the decision on NECA designation for the Baltic Sea is premature and insufficiently elaborated so far. The existing technologies do not provide for NECA requirements practical implementation without losing economic efficiency and in some cases they do not ensure technical ability to cut NOx emissions.
Experts participating in the discussion mentioned the drawbacks of the existing technology of selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ammonia: insufficient performance of the process in respect of vessels operating in the heavy traffic areas, additional emission of СО2 and risk of ammonia overdosing when diesel engines work at transient rating. Newbuildings fitted with SCR reactors will be less competitive due to more costly construction and escalated maintenance costs. Besides, ecological improvement may become evident no sooner than in 20 years while the MARPOL requirement covers only newbuildings.
The delegates also noted that there is no infrastructure for filling vessels with urea solution and disposal of used catalyzers. Besides, the results of IMO’s review on technical developments for Tier III standards implementation has not been issued yet.
The Conference members have come to a conclusion that the discussion of the NECA designation for the Baltic Sea should be laid aside until more sophisticated technologies and infrastructure appear. The delegates stated that introduction of new environmental requirements should be supported by the balanced safety, economic and technical aspects.
The Conference also discussed the enactment of sulphur content limits in marine fuels for SECA (Sulphur Emission Control Area) from 2015. The participants marked that meeting the requirement of such a low sulphur content may result, at least, in considerable rise of prices for this fuel as well as in its deficit. This can also have a negative impact on the market of coastal shipping as compared with other transports and partial redirection of cargo flow to road transport. Moreover, it has already been proved that greenhouse gas emissions multiply during this fuel production. Therefore, with the environmental improvements in SECA, ecological situation of densely populated inland regions of the planet will worsen many-fold.
The discussion also covered the future entry into force of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships'. Ballast Water and Sediments of 2004, in particular, the requirement for all ships in international traffic to manage their ballast water and sediments to a certain standard from 2016.
The Conference delegates stated that ecological safety of shipping is a combination of many factors requiring coordinated efforts of all the process participants focused on vessel’s operational safety control and prevention of accidents and environmental pollution.
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping strives to minimize negative impact of the maritime transport on the environment. Its priority is to promote safe operation of vessels and floating structures, safety of life at sea, safekeeping of cargo and prevention of environmental pollution. To meet the challenges RS develops and permanently upgrades the rules and guidance comprising all the latest international requirements in the sphere of shipbuilding and navigation.
RS has developed supplementary requirements on control and limitation of operational emissions to the atmosphere and discharge into the sea aimed at prevention of pollution in emergency situations. These requirements define additional onboard technical measures for prevention of environmental pollution including prevention of pathogenic organisms’ transfer with ballast waters.
The Conference photo report is available at PortNews IAA website >>>>