Firms and jobs will be hit by low sulphur fuel directive
January 24, 2012
Shipowners are lobbying the French government to put pressure on the EC and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to postpone new rules to reduce the sulphur content of marine fuel used by ships.
France’s shipowners’ association, Armateurs de France (AdF), says the move would seriously threaten French shipping companies and jobs operating in the SOx Emission Control Areas (SECAs) of the Baltic Sea, North Sea and the Channel to 0.1% from 1 January 2015.
Brittany Ferries is one operator fearing drastic consequences for its business if the directive becomes law in 2015.
“Let’s be clear, we are not against cutting sulphur emissions, having already reduced them to 1%, a senior company official told IFW.
“But to push down the level to 0.1% within the timetable set out in the directive is completely unreasonable.
“The technology isn’t there yet. We need an extra five years, minimum. Our operating costs would soar and we’d have to close services which are marginally profitable, with a significant knock-on effect on jobs.”
And the rise in rates, which Brittany Ferries would be obliged to impose on its customers, would lead it to taking trucks off ferries and back onto the road, he added.
Under the proposal, the maximum permissible sulphur content of maritime fuels used in “sensitive areas” such as the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Channel, will fall from the current level of 1.5% to 0.1%, on 1 January 2015.
Ships will be allowed to use technologies such as exhaust gas cleaning systems as an alternative to using low-sulphur fuels.
Other changes proposed include more unified reporting and verification, and sampling provisions aligned with international standards.
While the new rules will pose challenges for the sector, the use of alternative abatement technologies will significantly reduce compliance costs and stimulate innovation and resource efficiency, said the EC.
The directive was unveiled last July and the proposed amendments to it will be examined by a European Parliament Environmental Commission on 30 January before a parliamentary vote the following day.
Speaking at a conference on maritime affairs at the end of last year, French transport minister Thierry Mariani voiced his opposition to the directive.
“What can we make of a regulation which increases the operating costs of a ship by between 40% and 70% and risks putting back on to the roads HGVs that currently use the motorways of the sea?
“What can we make of a regulation which, three years from now, will oblige you to operate your ships with fuel or equipment that does not exist yet? Don’t our ro-ro operators have enough problems already ?”
Courtesy of IFW
