EU emissions rules will push sea cargo to road
The EU's sulfur dioxide emissions will result in 30% of short sea traffic The European Unions plan to slash ships sulfur dioxide emissions will likely result in 30 percent of short sea traffic in northern Europe switching to trucks, European shippers said.Reducing the maximum sulfur content of marine fuels to 0.1 percent from 1.5 percent by 2015 in sensitive areas such as the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel would raise ships bunker costs by 40 percent, the European Shippers Council said.This will force some industries located in the northern region of Europe to either relocate or switch to alternative modes of transport, predominantly road due to insufficient reliability, capacity and access of rail freight, the Brussels-based ESC said.The shipping sector could lose up to 30 percent of their existing traffic in the region.High volume, low profit freight such as ores and forest products will be most affected, according to the ESC.It called on the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, to postpone the deadline for the lower emissions from 2015 to 2020. This would allow time for the refiners to boost the supply of low sulfur fuels and develop technologies that help remove sulfur from ships ...
Read more