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IMO to look into ban on heavy fuel oil in Arctic shipping

The IMO has agreed to take steps toward a ban on the use of heavy fuel oil in Arctic shipping, following an appeal from the Canadian government, indigenous participants and testimony from WWF-Canada.

Lee Hong Liang, Asia Correspondent

July 10, 2017

1 Min Read
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The non-profit wildlife conservation organisation WWF-Canada highlighted to the IMO recent reports outlining major gaps in spill response capacity in the Arctic, and urged the regulatory body to stop heavy fuel oil usage in the Arctic by 2020.

Andrew Dumbrille, senior specialist, sustainable shipping for WWF-Canada, said: “As ship traffic increases in the Arctic, the risk of an environmentally devastating spill becomes more and more real. We have an opportunity now to end the use of this toxic substance while levels of ship traffic are still relatively low. In order to give industry time to adapt, WWF encourages the IMO to continue moving this agenda forward, and phase out the use of HFO in Arctic shipping by 2020.”

The Canadian delegation’s submission on how to reduce the impacts of heeavy fuel oil in the Arctic received support from all Arctic states (US, Russia, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark/Greenland) as well as several non-Arctic states.

The dirty and destructive properties of the bunker fuel have already led to bans in both the Antarctic, and in Norwegian Arctic waters.

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About the Author

Lee Hong Liang

Asia Correspondent

Singapore-based Lee Hong Liang provides a significant boost to daily coverage of the Asian shipping markets, as well as bringing with him an in-depth specialist knowledge of the bunkering markets.

Throughout Hong Liang’s 14-year career as a maritime journalist, he has reported ‘live’ news from conferences, conducted one-on-one interviews with top officials, and had the ability to write hard news and featured stories.

 

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