Brussels pushes the international agenda
but supports environmental mitigation
THE European Union supports technology advancement, even in shipping. It puts money behind research into environmental solutions, and backs new automation systems and studies into unmanned ships.
This is a bonus for European technology companies. They have to keep ahead in an industry where costs play an ever important role and this can give them an edge when it comes to innovation.
In early May, a ministerial meeting in Athens led to an updated declaration of Europe’s desire to support maritime industries and, among other things, underscored its support for marine technology innovation.
The EU is also pushing regulations ahead of international rules, shaping the legislative landscape in shipping.
The ship-recycling regulation of the European Union is believed by some to be a future catalyst for more signatories of the International Maritime Organization’s Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling.
Europe also took the pending changes to sulphur in fuel requirements in the IMO’s annex VI emissions amendments that were agreed in 2008, and embellished them in 2012.
Reductions
As of January 1, 2015, all ships operating in an emission-control area need to have fuels with a sulphur content lower than 0.1%, down from 1%.
The rest of the world will be able to continue using fuels of 3.5% until 2020 or 2024, depending on the result of an IMO study into how much suitable fuel is available. At such a time the limit will drop to 0.5%.
The IMO rule changes were welcomed by shipowners associations when the amendments were agreed in 2008. However, some shipowner groups have since raised concerns about the problems of modal shift and enforcement.
The European parliament has made its regulations slightly stronger. It has copied the emission-control area rules of the IMO, but has said limits for the rest of its waters will drop to 0.5% regardless of the IMO study.
It has also hit passengerships, saying these vessels will have a 1.5% limit outside the ECAs, but within European waters, until 2020, instead of a 3.5% limit.
Both European and the IMO rules allow for abatement technology to be used on ships to meet the regulations, thus allowing vessels with these scrubber systems to continue using high-sulphur fuel oils that trade at a significant discount to the distillate low-sulphur fuels that would otherwise be used.
Although European rules ban state aid that is anti-competitive, they allow member states to offer limited support for shipowners to install technology that reduces shipping’s environmental impact. Very few states have actually gone so far as to do so though.
One area where Europe recently lost out is with the NOx emission-rule changes as Russia has managed to have the dates for any potential NOx ECA postponed.
Under the IMO rules, vessels built after 2016 and entering a designated NOx ECA need to meet the toughest agreed emission limits for NOx gases. It means more technologically advanced solutions on ships, but currently this only applies to the ECAs around North America.
For other ECAs the rules will apply to newbuildings built at dates determined by the application of the new ECAs, giving continued uncertainty in northern Europe.
