Shipowners are looking for ways to circumvent a landmark ruling for ships to burn cleaner fuels, which is scheduled to take effect at the start of 2020
Authorities in Greece, the world’s biggest ship-owning nation, want the rule to be pushed back, casting a cloud over shipping’s environmental efforts and the industry’s ability to meet a series of new targets through a regime that largely amounts to self-regulation.
But Ioannis Plakiotakis, Greece’s merchant marine minister, told the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping regulator, in late November that operators simply aren’t ready to meet the demand to cut sulfur emissions. The IMO’s move, which has been 10 years in the making and is already international law, will saddle the industry with some $50 billion in extra fuel costs over the next four years, according to shipping executives. Cleaner fuels aren’t being widely traded, but prices are expected to be up to 40% higher than the heavy oil now in use.
“Vessels are lining up because two-thirds of the available barges have yet to flush their tanks from the heavy oil,” said the chief executive of a ship-refueler, who asked not to be named. “It will take a while before things run smoothly.”Oceangoing vessels burn heavy oil, the world’s dirtiest propulsion fuel, and operators have sailed around unclear rules over who enforces pollution limits.Ships generally sail in international waters beyond the reach of close regulation.
To comply with the Paris climate accord, IMO members also have agreed to slash greenhouse-gas emissions by half by 2050, compared with 2008 levels. Ships now contribute up to 3% of the world’s CO2 pollution, an amount comparable to that of major emitting countries.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
With border wall contract, Trump faces corruption concernsThere's no shortage of examples of Trump making substantive decisions based on things he saw on Fox News, but this is ridiculous.
Read more »
U.N. Chief Says Planet Faces Point Of No Return As Climate Summit BeginsWhile stressing that his message before the global COP25 climate conference was one of hope rather than despair, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters that the world’s government must make immediate changes or face a point of no return. What do you think?
Read more »
Chinese Labs Mine DNA to Map Faces With Help From the WestTUMXUK, China -- In a dusty city in the Xinjiang region on China&39;s western frontier, the authorities are testing the rules of science.With 1 million or more ethnic Uighurs and others from predominantly Muslim minority groups swept up in detentions across Xinjiang, officials in Tumxuk have gathered
Read more »