Bunkerspot reported on the 20th of January that the French Ship Owners Association is attempting to delay the implementation of MARPOl Annex VI. “The French shipowners' association Armateurs de France (ADF) is urging the French government to "unite" other European states to delay the introduction of the 0.10% sulphur cap at the sulphur emission control areas (SECAs) in Northern Europe”
The article goes on to claim that “The association believes the new regulation poses a threat to the shipping industry and employment in France, and adds 40-70% to a vessel's operating costs while requiring fuel and equipment that "do not exist".
Having been an operator I have more than the average empathy with owners looking for the best and most commercially viable means to comply with this legislation. However one does have to challenge some of the claims being made here, whilst at the same time wondering why folk are still trying to delay, given that the 0.1% limit from 2015 has been known about for really quite a long time now?
The claim that “equipment” does not exist is, I am afraid, unsupportable in our opinion. Oceanox and a number of other credible suppliers have been and are talking to ship owners on a daily basis about installing sea water scrubbing equipment which will meet the requirements of Annex VI. Equally the oil market, like any other traded commodity market will respond to demand and indeed already has an understanding of the implications of the forthcoming legislation. Oil companies spend an enormous amount of money researching the future shape of energy demand and all publish their own forecasts. The graph on the left is taken from Exxonmobil’s 2012 – The Outlook for Energy and shows the growth in demand for distillate fuels going forward to 2040 as well as the continued demand for fuel oil. Whilst there may well be short term and localised availability issues ultimately if the demand is there the supply will come. This is of course just as true of technology as well, there comes a point when failing to act in the vain hope that a legislative delay will come is likely to result in a nasty period of excess operating costs whilst playing “technology installation catch up!”