By
Rebecca Gibson |
Interferry has stated that the task faced by ferry operators in northern Europe to reduce sulphur emissions from bunker fuel, is near impossible.
The association, which represents the ferry industry worldwide, has also warned that low-sulphur legislation will prompt an environmentally damaging modal shift from short-sea to overland transport – resulting in severe financial implications for the overall European economy.
The operators have been given a 2015 deadline by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to implement a 0.1 per cent limit on the sulphur content of fuel.
While acknowledging the industry’s responsibility to reduce emissions by 2020, it (Interferry) claims that 2015 is ‘mission impossible’ because of unsustainable cost increases.
The European Commission has proposed a number of technical and financial solutions to the issue, including LNG fuel or the use of scrubbers for vessels that continue to run on heavy fuel.
“There is no financial support for existing ferries, while LNG and scrubbers are not feasible,” says Johan Roos, the association’s executive director of EU and IMO affairs. “In effect, the toolbox is completely empty.
“Our only option is to use marine gas oil – technically straightforward but very costly and potentially counter-productive in environmental terms. Operators have warned that they will not be able to pass on the 70 per cent or more fuel cost increase to customers with a choice of transport modes, which will inevitably push up to 50 per cent of cargo off short-sea ships and back on to the road network.
“At the very least, the IMO must bring forward its availability review from 2018, as mandated in MARPOL Annex VI, to 2012 or 2013,” he added, “It’s also clear that the ongoing revision of the EU Directive must put provisions in place as to what should happen if low-sulphur fuel is simply not available to operators in 2015.”