On 22 October, the Belgian Ministry of Mobility and Transport announced in a press statement that a new sensor was installed in Zeebrugge this week to monitor ship emissions.
According to local news, the new Ship Emission Monitoring by Passive Remote Sensing (SEMPAS) sensor has been installed at the Belgian coast in Zeebrugge in order to monitor ship emissions. It will allow for more efficient sanctioning of ships that don’t follow the rules as ships in the North Sea have to meet very strict emission requirements as a low-emission zone has been established over it.
The sensor can monitor the emissions of passing ships seven days a week from a distance of 10 km. If a ship possibly exceeds the permitted standards, the Shipping DG will be notified. Those ships can then be targeted for further inspection, Belga News Agency reports.
The international goal is to get shipping to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. With new techniques, such as this sensor, we will soon be able to monitor ships to our ports 24/7.
…said North Sea minister Paul Van Tigchelt.
The new sensor was provisionally mounted at the traffic centre of the Scheldt Radar Chain in Zeebrugge. Later it is reported that it will move to a wind turbine at sea.
To remind, earlier this year the port of Antwerp-Bruges, in collaboration with Fluxys, started developing a CO2 compression plant in Zeebrugge.
