The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation announced that Indonesia will not implement the 2020 suplhur cap regulation on its domestic shipping fleet because of the expense of the cleaner fuel. Thus, Indonesian-flagged vessels will be able to sail burning marine fuels with a maximum 3.5% sulphur content in its territorial waters past 2020 without having to use scrubbers.
The IMO sulphur cap regulation reports that from January 1, 2020, vessels should burn fuel with less than 0.50% sulphur, down from 3.5% now, unless vessels are equipped with exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers).
However, the Ministry thought that the equipment and the overall adjustment of vessels to be able to comply with IMO’s regulation, will be expensive so the Indonesian-flagged vessels are allowed to burn fuel with 3.5% sulphur content.
Reuters reports that according to an official source that remains unnamed, the Indonesian-flagged vessels will comply with the IMO 2020 sulphur cap regulation when sailing in international routes, as will foreign-flagged vessels its waters.
Yet, concerning Indonesia’s decision, Ashok Sharma, managing director of shipbroker BRS Baxi in Singapore quoted to Reuters that
Indonesia’s move might have a knock on effect but then again the scale is likely to be negligible as far as geographical coverage is concerned. Shipping is international in nature and hence it will not make economic sense for a ship owner to be in and out of IMO 2020 compliance as their asset transit various legislations.
Concluding, in light of the approaching sulphur cap, Muhammad Usman, LR’s voice on marine fuels, answered some of the most frequently questions on the ideal preparation for the approaching regulation.
