• 2015 February 5 14:34

    Shipping Industry should be prepared for global sulphur cap in 2020, says ICS

    The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has agreed that the shipping and bunker refining industries should work to the possibility that the global 0.5% sulphur in fuel cap, required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is more likely to be implemented worldwide from 2020, rather than 2025, ICS said in its press release.
     
    Speaking after an ICS Board meeting in London, ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka, explained:
    “While postponement of the sulphur global cap until 2025 is still a possibility, the shipping and oil refining industries should not assume that this will happen simply because they are unprepared. ICS has concluded that, for better or worse, the global cap is very likely to be implemented in 2020, almost regardless of the effect that any lack of availability of compliant fuel may have on the cost of moving world trade by sea”.

    ICS members have therefore agreed that they will continue to work with the bunker refiners to help ensure that they will be ready, if necessary, to supply sufficient quantities of compliant fuel by 2020.

    Annex VI of the IMO MARPOL Convention allows for the possibility that implementation of the global sulphur cap – which will dramatically increase the cost of marine fuel for the shipping industry worldwide, perhaps by as much as US$50 Billion a year – can be deferred until 2025. This decision is meant to be subject to the results of a fuel availability study that IMO is legally required to complete before the end of 2018.
     
    Despite repeated ICS requests, IMO Member States have so far refused to bring forward the conduct of the fuel availability study. If supply problems are identified at the end of 2018 this will be far too late for governments to take action. ICS member national shipowners’ associations have therefore concluded that a political decision may in effect already have been taken, at least by the United States and the European Union which view the global cap as a public health issue.
     
    ICS’s position is influenced by the fact that the EU has already agreed, regardless of any decision by IMO to postpone the global cap, that a 0.5% sulphur limit will apply to international shipping within 200 miles of the coast of all EU Member States. In theory, if the global cap was not implemented until 2025, this would create a narrow corridor along the coast of North Africa in which ships could continue to burn less expensive residual fuel with a sulphur content of 3.5%. ICS believes that the EU Member States will be unlikely to permit this and will therefore push hard at IMO for global implementation of the 0.5% requirement in 2020.

    The ICS Board also reviewed implementation of the 0.1% sulphur in fuel requirements that have applied in Emission Control Areas, in North America and North West Europe, since 1 January. It was agreed that ICS will continue its close liaison with governments and Port State Control authorities in order to ensure a harmonised approach to implementation and enforcement that avoids unfair treatment or market distortion. ICS is particularly concerned by reports that some Port States are charging ships for the analysis of fuel samples.
     
    The ICS Board reviewed the negotiations at IMO towards the establishment of a global system of data collection on CO2 emissions from international shipping.

    ICS members expressed deep concern about the European Union’s decision to pre-empt the IMO negotiations by adopting a unilateral regional Regulation on the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of individual ship emissions, in advance of IMO completing its work.

    Mr Morooka commented “The EU Regulation will have major implications for the IMO negotiations on a global data collection system which, until now, have been progressing well. There is a real danger the EU initiative will be seen by non-EU States as an attempt to present them with a fait accompli which includes controversial elements, such as the publication of individual ship efficiency data, which had previously been rejected, for the moment at least, by the majority of governments at IMO.”

    ICS members agreed that when the IMO negotiations resume at the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee in May, it will be vital for EU Member States to explain how the new EU Regulation can be implemented in a way which is compatible with whatever may be agreed by IMO for global application.

    ICS remains concerned that the ultimate motive behind the EU Regulation is to establish a mandatory ship efficiency indexing system that will be used to penalise ships financially, in a manner that could lead to a serious market distortion throughout the global shipping industry.




2024 July 26

18:00 LiqTech and Danbee Marine enter agreement for marine scrubber water treatment solutions for the South Korean market
17:23 Thecla Bodewes Shipyards successfully launches 7.280dwt vessel ‘Vertom Lisa’ for Vertom Group
16:57 MSC reaffirms pledges to avoid Arctic shipping route
16:23 Taiwanese ports resume bunkering after Typhoon Gaemi-induced suspension
15:41 Chinese ports container volume rises 8.5 % in the first half of a year 2024
15:17 Hanwha Ocean picked as preferred bidder for S. Korean Navy's logistics support ship
14:55 Vietnam's port system able to handle world's largest ships
14:36 Castor Maritime announces the acquisition of its first Ultramax vessel
14:12 Bunker price trends in the world's four largest hubs, July 22-28 – MABUX
13:30 Total Energies orders LNG bunkering vessels at Hudong Zhonghua
12:52 Philippines rushes to contain oil spill from sunken tanker
12:47 Bangladesh 'jam-packed' with cargo as curfew and internet restrictions continue
12:24 Helmerich & Payne announces agreement to acquire KCA Deutag
11:54 Two cruise ships were simultaneously bunkered with LNG at Port Canaveral
10:51 Associated British Ports announces new Chair
10:18 CMA CGM publishes Q2 2024 financial results

2024 July 25

18:00 Western sanctions and Houthi attacks boost appeal of Russia’s Arctic Sea Route - Bloomberg
17:46 Saudi Arabia imports fuel oil from Kuwait for first time in two years
17:24 Port of Thessaloniki implements the wireless reefer monitoring system
16:59 Hunan Jinhang Shipbuilding launches a 500m3 LNG bunkering pontoon
15:51 Chevron’s Taro Ultra advanced 40 granted LNG Validation status by WinGD
15:16 A Philippine-flagged tanker capsized off the coast of Bataan province, causing a spill
14:44 Cyan Renewables acquires Australian vessel operator MMA Offshore
14:23 Russia ships fuel to Bolivia as it increases Latin American sales - Reuters
13:59 Grimaldi-Minoan consortium acquires 67% of Heraklion Port Authority
13:12 Bumi Armada, Navigator Gas and Bluestreak CO2 announce MoU with Uniper for joint study on export of CO2 emissions from proposed UK carbon capture plant
12:52 ABS releases industry first advisory on ammonia bunkering
11:40 Drydocks World executes conversion and upgrade projects for FPSO and FSO vessels
11:10 EMA and MPA shortlist two consortia to further study viability of ammonia for power generation and bunkering
10:40 AW Shipping inks contract with CSSC Jiangnan Shipyard for the construction of two 93,000 cubic meters very large ammonia carriers
10:09 Corvus Energy Blue Whale ESS awarded RINA Type Approval
09:48 Opulent Maritime selects ADP Clear to digitize its bunkering operations

2024 July 24

18:00 MSC invests in multimodal terminal adjacent to Paris via MEDLOG
17:34 Frontera announces agreement between Puerto Bahia and GASCO to pursue LPG project in Cartagena, Colombia
17:00 Shipping firms respond to Houthi attacks in Red Sea
16:32 China’s shipbuilding output rises by 18.4% in H1 2024
16:04 The EU ETS to run the global tanker fleet more than €2bn by 2030
15:49 Typhoon Gaemi halts bunkering in Taiwanese ports
15:23 Container ship fleet expands by 11%, fastest growth in 15 years - BIMCO
14:55 MPC Container Ships takes delivery of final 5,500 TEU methanol-ready boxship from Korea
13:32 A methanol-powered cargo ship arrived in Estonia for the first time
13:13 Six feared dead and 14 rescued after fishing boat sinks off Falkland Islands
12:40 Wartsila to supply a hybrid-electric propulsion system for an 11,000 dwt Limestone Carrier
12:15 Rijeka Gateway adopts private 5G campus network
11:46 Valenciaport handled 2.7 million containers in H1 2024
11:24 Fincantieri signs order with Carnival Corporation for three mega-cruise ships
10:53 Energean takes FID for the Katlan development project in Israel
10:23 Australia announces three years’ worth offshore acreage for petroleum exploration and CCS
09:58 Valaris DS-17 to drill for the Raia project in Brazil

2024 July 23

18:00 Telemar to provide global safety support services to seven Ignazio Messina container vessels
17:27 KBR’s blue ammonia technology selected for Shell Blue Horizons project in Oman
17:16 The Federal Maritime Commission publishes final rule on unreasonable refusal to deal
16:42 Qatar Navigation and Qatar Steel sign a 5-year agreement to provide stevedore services
16:25 Spain detains cargo ship over fuel spill near Ceuta
15:23 The Indonesian company Pertamina adds Russian oil grades to its tender lists to buy September crude
14:58 Seatrium secures S$180 mln in repairs and upgrades projects
13:49 HD KSOE partners with UM to foster US ship engineers
13:24 IRGC seizes oil tanker smuggling fuel in Persian Gulf
11:25 ADNOC L&S joint venture awards $1.9bln contract to Chinese shipbuilder
10:59 Port of Valencia opens new combined transport terminal
10:24 NYK Bulkship installs NYK Group’s first wind-assisted ship-propulsion units
09:59 GTT entrusted by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for the tank design of two new LNG carriers

2024 July 22

18:06 Manzhouli railway port handles 2,327 China-Europe freight train trips in 1st half of 2024
17:36 NORDEN to acquire Norlat Shipping to further grow projects and parcelling activities
17:23 2024 is expected to be a record year for cruises in the port of Heraklion
16:47 ABS and the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center to collaborate on maritime technologies
15:56 Trafigura Group takes full ownership of High Heat Tankers
15:46 China delivers world’s first river-sea LNG bunker and transport vessel
14:51 Hartmann receives new LNG-powered LEG carrier
14:14 Jiangnan Shipyard supplies dual-fuel VLEC gas Huanghe