Friday, August 3, 2012

Two-hundred-mile Emission Control Area off North America begins

The so-called Emission Control Area that is aimed at reducing air pollution from commercial ships off of the coastlines of North America is in effect as of Wednesday, August 1.

The new air emission measure has officially launched two years after the International Maritime Organization approved an application from the U.S. and Canada for the creation of a lower pollution zone that lowers nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter from ships over 400 gross tons that are within 200 nautical miles of the coasts of the two countries.

The ECA requires ships to use fuel with sulfur content of 1.0 percent or less, and a much more stringent 0.1 percent beginning in 2015.

"We'll know in a couple of weeks or a month whether (availability of fuel) will be an issue," said Chris Koch, president of the World Shipping Council, a trade association that represents the global liner shipping sector of container ships and car carriers, to Reuters. "The EPA and the Coast Guard have worked together very closely on this. They realize that if a ship can't find the fuel, OK they can't find the fuel."

Koch told Reuters the price of low-sulfur fuel might up the cost of fuel by $60 to $90 a ton, depending on the port.

A civil penalty of as much as $25,000, or more, per day, can be assessed to ship operators not complying with the new emissions standard, although Transport Canada announced in March it would not enforce the regulation as of August 1 pending "further discussions with the domestic marine industry."

The state of Alaska has aggressively objects to the new emissions controls, and filed a lawsuit in July against the Obama Administration to block enforcement in Alaskan waters, according to Reuters. The suite claims that elevated shipping costs will damage the Alaska's cruise ship tourism and general economy. "Increased regulation of these vessels increases the costs of bringing goods to Alaska, in effect operating as a tax on all Alaskans."

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