Tag: regulatory update

According to Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WWS), shipowners are incurring unnecessary operating costs by not ensuring their onboard refrigeration units are leak-tight. These costs are set to increase by five to 10 times their current level as new regulations on environmental protection come into force in the European Union (EU).To an industry faced with the challenges of compliance with a raft of regulations from low sulphur fuel to the Maritime Labour Convention, the issue of refrigeration gas leaks might seem small, but owners of EU-flagged vessels will soon need to start paying attention, according to Svenn Jacobsen of Wilhelmsen Ships Service.“Testing for gas leaks is at the moment, a maintenance issue but the impact of leaks from land-based and ship sources has the attention of regulators. For shipping, this is about to become a compliance issue,” he says. “Before that happens, owners need to start paying attention because the future costs of compliance will far outstrip what owners are paying for these gases today.”Refrigeration gas is a commodity like motor fuel but is not a consumable and therefore should not need replacing. Jacobsen says owners who are paying to recharge the gas systems should recognise they have a fault and take action. ...

UK P&I Club issues Knowledge bulletin The UK P&I Club issued a Knowledge bulletin regarding the stepped up enforcement in the North American ECA.In a new enforcement initiative, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), has boarded vessels to collect bunker samples to determine whether the vessels fuel sources meet the 1.0% fuel oil sulphur limit applicable within the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA).The EPA also disclosed that it has been experimenting with vessel flyovers to assess vessel smokestack plumes for the same purpose.The EPAs unprecedented action, coming on the heels of its issuance of administrative subpoenas to several large companies operating ships within the North American ECA, announced stepped up efforts to enforce low sulphur fuel requirements within the North American ECA. Until this recent initiative, EPA and USCG officials seemed content to simply monitor compliance efforts by reviewing ECA-related records and documents such as Bunker Delivery Receipts during Port State Control inspections. These joint EPA/USCG initiatives to enforce fuel standards should serve as a warning to Clubs Members operating within the North American ECA. The commercial and legal consequences of a failure to comply with the ECAs fuel ...

The EU Commission's Directorate-General on Environment has ruled that it is unable to identify any breach of EU environmental legislation in respect of bunkering activities

ClassNK held LNG-Fuelled Vessel Technologies seminars in Shanghai and Singapore on 22 July and 24 July 2014 respectively

The world's first green-ship equipment certification centre opened for business in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, Korea. The Korean Register is a founding partner in this ground-breaking project

A number of North Western EU countries made a commitment in Copenhagen to cooperate with a view to making the control of ships' sulphur emissions more efficient

New anti-pollution shipping laws that could see the price of ferry journeys rocket and cause job losses have been debated at Westminster.

IMO said that sulphur regulations should have a degree of flexibility, the European Commission removed this flexibility and jobs will be lost as a result

UK P&I Club Legal Briefing The UK P&I Club has issued new Legal Briefing regarding the air pollution regulations.Air pollution from ships has been in the spotlight over recent years due to its increasing impact on the natural environment. The outcome has been a series of new regulations to limit exhaust and other atmospheric emissions from ships globally, regionally and nationally.MARPOL Annex VI sets global limits on ship exhaust emissions together with provisions for stricter emission control areas. For example in the North American Emissions Control Area, where the sulphur content of maritime fuel was limited to 1% in 2012, two UK Club members vessels have already been fined for not switching to low-sulphur fuel.By 18th June 2014 all European Union member states are expected to implement directive 2012/33/EU, which brings European national air pollution laws in line with MARPOL Annex VI. They and other countries are also introducing regulations which go beyond MARPOL Annex VI requirements.Ship owners need to be fully aware of the growing and stricter atmospheric emissions measures being introduced around the world. This update summarises the global, regional and national regulations currently in force and proposed. Ship owners should be aware of the growing and stricter ...

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) met in Limassol, Cyprus last week for its Annual General Meeting (AGM)