Cruise ships face emissions anomaly

Cruise lines operating European itineraries in 2010 could face major challenges from July next year when new regulations on the sulphur content of marine fuels come into force.

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) is warning that passenger vessels could be subject to three different sulphur limits on a single voyage! In designated Emission Control Areas (ECAs) covering the Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel, the maximum sulphur content of marine fuels will be cut from 1.5% to 1.0%. However, in other European Union ports the limit will remain at 1.5%, while outside the EU it will be 4.5%.

Therefore a passenger vessel leaving Northern Europe for a Mediterranean cruise will be required, as from 1 July 2010, to burn a maximum 1% sulphur fuel in the Baltic and North Sea and a maximum of 1.5% in the Mediterranean, while potentially being able to burn 4.5% outside EU territorial waters.

IBIA chief executive Ian Adams said a change in the IMO standard for ECAs would not affect existing EU rules on passenger ship emissions, resulting in this anomaly. ‘The only way this apparent anomaly can be addressed is by a revision of the EU Directive 1999/32/EC, which covers the sulphur content of liquid fuels derived from petroleum.’

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