Submitted by International Chamber of Shipping
IMO issues circular which highlights the importance of reliably assessing the availability of MARPOL Annex VI compliant fuels and proposes a means to facilitate timely and successful implementation of the requirements of regulation 14 of MARPOL Annex VI.
During MEPC 62 the Committee considered paper MEPC 62/4/5 reporting the outcome of a Correspondence Group on the assessment of availability of fuel oil under MARPOL Annex VI. That paper proposed a model for the assessment of future availability of compliant fuel oil under the provisions of MARPOL Annex VI, regulation 14.8
A related paper by ICS (MEPC 62/4/21) was also under consideration at that time. However, due to time constraints at MEPC 62 and subsequently at MEPC 63 the Committee was unable to fully discuss the paper submitted by ICS suggesting the need for a preliminary study to verify of the accuracy and reliability of the model proposed by the Correspondence Group.
As highlighted in the submission to MEPC 62, ICS believes that there are compelling reasons for carrying out a preliminary study on fuel availability. This is to ensure that the proposed model is capable of providing reliable data that can be used with confidence by the Committee when considering the timely and efficient implementation of the provisions of Annex VI. It is essential that the assessment model is verified and proven to provide data that leads to accurate and reliable predictions of fuel availability including the effects of the regulatory step changes and the introduction of any additional ECAs should that occur.
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Source: IMO