DFDS response on the EU Sulphur Directive
On January 1, 2015 the EU Sulphur Directice 2012/33/EU will bring about a major reduction in sulphur dioxide emission from ships and that will heavenly impact shipping in northern Europe. The Directive will require ships sailing in the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to use bunker oil with a maximum 0,1% sulphur or apply alternative methods in order to achieve the same effect. The new rules will come into effect in 2015 and there will be no exemptions. There are basically three ways to comply with the new legislation: Switch to the MGO fuel Change to LNG Invest in scrubbers that remove sulphur from the exhaust gases from ships. All three options will lead to significant cost increases for shipping companies. Legislation for their use is stull not fully in place and there is a significant lead time for such major conversions to existing vessels. DFDS has been testing the world's first large scrubber on freight ship FICARIA SEAWAYS since 2009 and the results are promising as the technology achieved promising results and often better than when using MGO. DFDS is now investing up to EUR 100 million to retrofit a number of vessels with scrubbers. By ...
Read more