About 87-98% of ships comply with the tougher regulations for sulphur emissions that were introduced in northern Europe in 2015, according to researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, but the lowest levels of compliance were observed in the western part of the English Channel and in the middle of the Baltic Sea.
The highest permitted sulphur content in shipping fuel was drastically reduced at the end of 2014 for vessels sailing in the northern European Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) – from 1.00 to 0.10%. Prior to this, sulphur emissions from shipping were estimated to cause premature death of 50,000 Europeans each year.
Now, researchers at the Swedish Chalmers University of Technology have developed a new method for remotely monitoring emissions from marine vessels, which they’ve used to investigate the effects of the new regulations.
As explained, in general, vessels carry both low-sulphur fuel oil and the less expensive high-sulphur oil onboard, but if they switch fuel well in advance of their passing of the measuring stations, they won’t be caught out, and this is why aerial monitoring is superior, according to Johan Mellqvist, professor of optical remote sensing, heads the work at Chalmers.
The work has been carried out through the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the EU projects Compmon and Envisum. Some of the measurements were taken using an aeroplane flying over Denmark, the English Channel and the middle of the Baltic Sea, while others used fixed measuring stations in the approach to Gothenburg, Sweden, on the Oresund Bridge (between Copenhagen and Malmo) and on the Great Belt Bridge in central Denmark.
The aerial surveys show that 13% of vessels in the western part of the English Channel, near the SECA border, were in violation of the sulphur regulations in September 2016. For vessels around Denmark, the corresponding figure is 6-8%, depending on time period.
The fixed measuring stations on the approach to Gothenburg, on the Oresund Bridge and the Great Belt Bridge show that between 2 and 5% of the bypassing ships use non-compliant fuel. This can be compared to onboard inspections showing non-compliance rates of around 5% of the vessels at port. This may indicate that some ships change to compliant fuels too late (when entering the SECA) or change to non-compliant fuels too early (when leaving the SECA), while aiming at compliance at the fixed stations where they expect to be observed.
There is a strong financial incentive for shipping companies to continue using the prohibited high-sulphur fuel. For example, they can save around 100,000 euros by using the cheaper, high-sulphur fuel on a single round trip between the UK and St Petersburg. The entirety of this journey lies within the SECA.