Maritime Nations Cut to Pollution from Sulfur Fuels

The world’s leading maritime nations are leaning toward setting rules next week to cut the sulfur in oceangoing vessels’ fuel by more than 85 per cent in 2020.

The rules are aimed at reducing the air pollution from burning high-sulfur fuel oil—a viscous refining by-product—that health officials blame for respiratory and heart diseases.

Shipping executives said it would cost around $40 billion for the industry to meet the new rules, with some of the outlays starting soon, during one of the sector’s worst-ever downturns.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the regulation also could catapult the price of cleaner-burning marine diesel fuel sharply higher if the deadline isn’t extended to 2025, giving fuel producers time to adjust, some shipping and energy executives say.

“Even at the later date, some ship operators say they doubt there would be enough of the fuel to supply the industry, “it stated.

The International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations’ shipping regulator, is scheduled to begin meetings in London on Monday where member countries will decide whether to require the change in 2020 or push out the deadline by five years.

“The IMO will seek a consensus decision and many major shipping nations have expressed their intention to adopt the 2020 deadline,” said one person involved in the matter. “But it’s one country-one vote and if objections are raised it will go to a vote. In that case, it will be close and can go either way.”

The regulator, it was reported, might choose to allow the rules to take effect gradually between 2020 and 2025 for certain ship types or geographical areas, or postpone a decision altogether.

“Effective enforcement measures are necessary in order to ensure real environmental progress as well as a level playing field for all shipping lines internationally,” said a spokesman for Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container carrier. “An IMO decision should reflect this.”

Ships contribute about 13 per cent of the world’s total sulfurdioxide emissions according to the IMO—much less than other industries like electricity production. The pollution from burning high-sulfur fuel causes respiratory ailments, and can aggravate existing heart disease, according to the World Health Organization.Implementing the