It has been 1.5 years since the EU introduced stricter sulphur limits for North European shipping. Since then, sulphur content in the air has improved. In Denmark alone measurements already show a 50-60% reduction. In the following article, Poul Woodall, DFDS’ Environmental Director looks back on the first 1,5 year of stricter EU sulphur rules.
1 January 2015 was a milestone for shipping
The new and stricter limits for sulphur content in marine fuel were introduced. The new rules still keep the shipping sector and politicians busy: enforcement legislation, monitoring methods and discussions about permitted scrubber types are among the topics that unfortunately still dominate the agenda.
DFDS started experimenting with such scrubbers years earlier, which has resulted in a wealth of knowledge that we share with others in order to help find answers to policy questions. We meet with European and national politicians, host visits to our vessels and participate in expert panels at various public events. We share our insights with scientific institutions, which in return provide valuable feedback to the industry and thereby for the benefit of society at large.
DS creates one of the world’s largest scrubber fleets
The first scrubber experiences started in 2009 when DFDS started to test this technology that cleans the vessel’s exhaust gases to a maximum level of 0.1% sulphur. The scrubber was installed on FICARIA SEAWAYS and was the world’s first large scrubber on a freight vessel.
The test results were promising as the technology performed better than just using MGO, marine oil with 0.1% sulphur content. In addition to cleaning the exhaust gas to levels below the new stricter limits, the scrubber technology also captures about 80% of the particulate matters. That equally benefits the air quality in the area where the vessels sail.
DFDS continues with a EUR 100 million investment programme
Years of testing and gaining experiences resulted in a large environmental investment programme in 2013, for which DFDS set aside EUR 100 million. Year after year, we installed scrubbers and environment-friendly systems on our vessels. In 2013 three vessels were fitted with scrubber systems followed by another seven in 2014 and a couple more in 2015. Today, the DFDS fleet has 17 vessels with scrubbers, making it one of the largest fleets in the world using this exhaust gas-cleaning technology.
Shipyard decked out in DFDS blue during scrubber installations in the summer of 2014: ARK FUTURA (for regular maintenance), SUECIA SEAWAYS, BEGONIA SEAWAYS and picture was taken from FREESIA SEAWAYS.
Scrubbers are co-financed by the EU
In support of this substantial investment, the EU has co-financed five of these retrofits under the 2013Ten-T programme and a further six units under the 2014 CEF programme. The support from the EU is a vital element in our continued investment programme to upgrade not only the vessels but perhaps even more so the ports and terminal infrastructure that are closely linked to the routes we serve.
The financial support not only enables DFDS to go one step further on the path of developing a transport product with a minimum of environmental impact, but it also signals the approval by the authorities of the environmental benefits this technology provides.
Environmental improvement is an ongoing initiative and DFDS has already added further enhancements to some of the early scrubber installations, making them even better. We keep on moving. The video below shows more more about DFDS’ scrubbers.
Source: DFDS
Also read related articles
DFDS introduces four ways for greener shipping
DFDS response on the EU Sulphur Directive
Retrofitting a scrubber, a shipowner’ s experience
