There have been two recent reports which indicate the mounting pressure on ship owners to take a proactive approach to compliance with the IMO’s 1 January 2015 deadline for the reduction in fuel sulphur content within Emissions Control Areas (ECA)
Firstly; On the 5th of August, Sustainable Shipping reported that “the Italian government is to bring forward a new emissions control rule in its waters. An approval has been issued for the "elimination of sulphur from marine fuels" used in Adriatic and Ionian waters from 2018” This is an important move as it illustrates the willingness of European Governments to extend the areas affected by reductions in sulphur content outside of those defined by the IMO ECA’s. It is therefore reasonable to surmise that shipowners cannot base their compliance strategies on the basis of ECA’s remaining static, the will inevitably be new ECA’s (the Pearl River Delta and Australasia are possible) but equally states can and will apply rules to their territorial seas, as the EC is doing with the global 0.5% limit in 2020.
Secondly; The same journal reported on the 4th of September that shipping finance banks are indicating that shipowners which do not comply with ECA rules may find themselves struggling to arrange finance. This may be a fairly veiled threat at this stage, but it is reasonable and logical for institutions, which have a responsibility to their shareholders, to require of their customers that they conduct their business in an entirely ethical and compliant way.
At Oceanox we favour a partnership approach to compliance and in doing so seek to form long term relationships which achieve not only compliance with the current situation, but also to work together to meet the challenges of the future.