New IMO submission calls for clarity on enforcement of 0.50% sulphur limit
The industry has coped remarkably well with the implementation of IMO 2020, but variable approaches to enforcement of the 0.50 percent sulphur limit continues to cause a lot of problems and uncertainty for the shipping and fuel oil supply industries.
The main problem is a lack of consistency in how authorities decide whether a ship is in compliance with the 0.50 percent sulphur limit, and the associated ban on carrying fuel exceeding 0.50 percent sulphur for ships without abatement technology.
One particular concern is cases where ships have been required to debunker after reporting to authorities that they have received a test result from their own fuel oil testing programme against ISO 8217 parameters, on the ship’s own sample, indicating a sulphur content marginally above 0.50 percent, but with the 95 percent confidence interval.
There have also been reports of authorities obtaining and testing in-use samples from ships and treating it as a non-compliance on the basis of a single test result above 0.50 percent sulphur, but within the 95 percent confidence interval, for example 0.51 percent or 0.52 percent sulphur.
IBIA brought the issue to the attention of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee with a statement at MEPC 75, urging member governments to apply the newly adopted amendments to MARPOL Annex VI regarding the verification procedure for a MARPOL Annex VI fuel oil sample.
The submission calls for the regulations and guidelines adopted by MEPC for consistent implementation of the 2020 sulphur limit to be better understood and implemented in a harmonised way by PSC authorities around the world. The submission also seeks better clarity on the basis for enforcement action to ensure ships are not unduly penalised.
For more information visit www.imo.org
12th July 2021
