ShareThis
Koji Sekimizu, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has told Russian market specialists PortNews IAA he believes a study of the availability of low-sulfur fuel to meet demand in 2020 should be brought forward.
"I have suggested that the study of availability of low sulphur fuel should be accelerated," he said.
"I'm sure that next year the Marine Environment Protection Committee will discuss this matter seriously and I hope that we will carry out important meaningful study for availability of low sulphur fuel."
Sekimizu said that "sometime into 2015" the IMO will evaluate the availability of the fuel for international shipping and the capacity of the oil industry to provide it by 2020.
"So we need to evaluate total amount of energy required for shipping industry by 2020 and then we'll take a decision of what should be done to meet low sulphur regulation by 2020," he said.
The review of fuel availability must be done by 2018, according to the IMO's Annex VI, but industry players have been calling for an earlier evaluation to give shipping and bunker companies time to prepare for a 2020 change in fuel regulations.
Starting January 1, 2020, limits on the sulfur content of marine fuel not already covered by an existing emissions control area (ECA) are set to drop from 3.50 percent to 0.50 percent globally.
Effective January 1, 2015 sulfur limits within the Baltic and the North Sea ECAs, as well as the North American ECA, will drop to 0.10 percent, but Sekimizu says he does not foresee any fuel availability issues for that deadline.
"As far as I understand, that could be achieved," he said.
UK Shipping Minister Stephen Hammond has called for the review of the 2020 limit to start at the beginning of 2015, an idea echoed by the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA).
Post to be found at:
http://shipandbunker.com/news/world/378868-imo-head-calls-for-quick-review-of-low-sulfur-fuel
No comments:
Post a Comment