Global Limits on Air Pollution from Large Ships

Global Limits on Air Pollution from Large Ships





October 2008  - Regulations to reduce harmful air 
emissions from large ocean-going ships were unanimously adopted Friday by 
the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations specialized 
agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution 
from ships. 
Effective as of July 1, 2010, the new plan will require ships to use low 
sulfur fuel in designated Emission Control Areas - first reducing 
permissible sulfur levels to 1.0 percent in 2010 and then dropping the 
permissible sulfur level to 0.1 percent in 2015. 
By 2020, ships will be required to use fuel with no more than 5,000 ppm 
sulfur, a 90 percent reduction from today's global cap. 
This is an Emission Control Area sulfur level advocated by California, the 
U.S. government, the European Commission and others to address air quality 
issues in near-shore population centers. 

Nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, or soot, also will be more 
strictly controlled. 
New engine standards will cut NOx emissions by 20 percent and will apply 
to new engines and to existing engines, as certified low-emission kits 
become available, beginning in 2011. 
Speaking following adoption of the MARPOL Annex VI amendments, IMO 
Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos hailed the achievement as "a 
monumental decision in IMO's history, a decision that proves, once again, 
that the organization is focused, united and relevant as the international 
body capable of dealing with all items on its agenda, an organization that 
sets global standards in a global environment." 
The revised measures are expected to have a significant beneficial impact 
on the atmospheric environment and on human health, particularly the 
health of people living in port cities and coastal communities. 
The World Shipping Council, representing over 90 percent of the global 
shipping capacity, supports the issuance, ratification and implementation 
of the IMO's new international vessel air emissions standards established 
by the International Maritime Organization. 
"From Los Angeles to Hamburg to Tokyo, the liner shipping industry has 
recognized the need for new, environmentally effective, international 
regulations for vessel air emissions, particularly SOx, NOx and 
particulate matter emissions," the World Shipping Council said in an April 
statement after the new regulations were outlined by the IMO. 
The World Shipping Council and its liner shipping member companies 
endorsed the U.S. government’s proposal on this subject to the IMO in June 
2007. 
The U.S. government proposal also received the endorsement of the 
California Air Resources Board, a number of U.S. environmental interests, 
the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, the American Association of 
Port Authorities, and various individual ports concerned about vessel air 
emissions. 
The main changes to the MARPOL Annex VI Regulations for the Prevention of 
Air Pollution from Ships agreed by the IMO's Marine Environment Protection 
Committee will see a progressive reduction in sulfur oxide, SOx, emissions 
from ships, with the global sulfur cap reduced initially to 3.50 percent, 
from the current 4.50 percent, effective from January 1, 2012. 
Then the sulfur cap will be progressively reduced to 0.50 percent, 
effective from January 1, 2020, subject to a feasibility review to be 
completed no later than 2018. 

The limits in sulfur Emission Control Areas will be reduced to 1.00 
percent, beginning on July 1, 2010, from the current 1.50 percent, and 
will be further reduced to 0.10 percent, effective from January 1, 2015. 
Progressive reductions in nitrogen oxide, NOx, emissions from marine 
engines were also agreed, with the most stringent controls on engines 
installed on ships constructed on or after January 1, 2016, operating in 
Emission Control Areas. 
The new regulations will allow for an Emission Control Area to be 
designated for SOx and particulate matter, or NOx, or all three types of 
emissions from ships, subject to a proposal from an IMO member country. 
The proposal would be considered for adoption by the IMO, if supported by 
a demonstrated need to prevent, reduce and control one or all three of 
those emissions from ships. 
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency will submit an 
application to the IMO for sulfur Emission Control Area status for U.S. 
coastal areas, the agency said in a statement Friday. 
Ocean-going vessels dock at over 100 U.S. ports. The EPA says more than 40 
of these ports are in metropolitan areas that do not meet federal air 
quality standards. 
"Massive reductions in air pollution from these large ships will help 87 
million Americans living in areas around ports that don't meet air quality 
standards breathe cleaner air," said Margo Oge, director of the EPA Office 
of Transportation and Air Quality. "Pollution emitted by ships along the 
U.S. coastlines and waterways can move inland where it worsens air 
quality." 
The EPA now will advance a domestic rulemaking action under the Clean Air 
Act to implement the new IMO standards. 
When fully implemented, the new standards will help reduce harmful 
emissions by 80 percent or more from large diesel ships, including those 
that are foreign-flagged operating in U.S. waters.





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