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Nations agree to cut sulphur ship emissions
Countries have agreed on new sulphur limits for ship fuels that will slash air pollutants and clean up the world's oceans, but raise costs for the oil and ship industry, a maritime industry source said on Friday.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:53 October 10, 2008
London: Countries have agreed on new sulphur limits for ship fuels that will slash air pollutants and clean up the world's oceans, but raise costs for the oil and ship industry, a maritime industry source said on Friday.
Governments agreed the new measures, which will sharply cut harmful sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from ships through a staggered timetable to 2015, at a UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting in London.
"It's very significant as it means that there will be substantial reductions in the emissions of harmful sulphur by ships," Simon Bennett, secretary at the International Chamber of Shipping, said.
"There is going to be much greater demand in the use of distillate fuels, particularly in the years running up to 2015," he said.
Through the IMO, countries agreed to impose sulphur limits in so-called special Sulphur Emission Control Areas (Seca) of 0.1 per cent by 2015 from the current 1.5 per cent.
There are only two Seca currently - the North Sea and the Baltic - but it is expected that the European Union, the US, Japan, Singapore and Australia will be declared Seca by that time.
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