Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Enforcement key factor in 0.1% sulphur cap in Europe: VPS

Enforcement key factor in 0.1% sulphur cap in Europe: VPS
With 0.1% sulphur fuel becoming mandatory across North European and Baltic waters in 2015 enforcement will be a key factor says fuel tester Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS).

Echoing the concerns of shipowners such as those behind the Trident Alliance Eirik Andreassen, managing director of VPS (formerly DNVPS) said: “Enforcement is one the key areas going forward.” He noted that, “Some shipowners are very concerned about consistent enforcement.”

Andreassen said that they are not seeing a consistent approach to enforcement in Northern Europe. “In the US you will have a consistent approach the US Coast Guard is quite consistent in their approach, but the European states and the various port states I haven’t really seen evidence yet of a consistent level of enforcement.”

As with North Europe and the Baltic ships will also be required to burn fuel with 0.1% sulphur or less in US Emission Control Areas (ECAs) from 1 January 2015.

Based on VPS’ observations there are some ports in North Europe where the sulphur regulations are enforced consistently and others where they are not.

An example of where Andreassen believes the 0.1% sulphur limit will be enforced is Rotterdam, where he is based. “We had a very good session with the Port of Rotterdam about how they intend to enforce it, how they intend to actually measure the exhaust gases, do the sampling at the engine inlet, and also do a paper check.”

Another issue that has concerned some owners is that even when errant vessels are caught the penalities are so low that it makes it worth the risk not using low sulphur fuel. “In some locations they will have look at the penalities,” he said. “I think the biggest penalty you can get is being delayed or being withheld at the port, with increased port dues and loss of day rates.”

Concluding Andreassen expressed his support for those concerned over enforcement. “The industry is concerned about that [enforcement] understandably and we will support any initiatives from the industry or the administrations in actually making sure that the enforcement is done in a consistent way.”