WWL voluntarily implements low-sulfur fuel policy for port calls

Global shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics will use a combination of marine gas oil and scrubbers to ensure that vessels at berth anywhere in the world meet the highest existing emission standard.    Ocean car carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) has adopted a policy for all vessels around the world of using fuel with less than 0.1 percent sulfur to power auxiliary engines while at berth at any port.
   The Norwegian company has been an industry leader in reducing harmful engine emissions, including as a founding member of the Trident Alliance seeking to ensure effective and consistent enforcement of sulfur emission regulations. Under international maritime convention that went into effect in 2014, commercial vessels in so-called Emission Control Areas (ECA) up to 200 miles off the coast of North America, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Caribbean, must use fuel with 0.1 percent sulfur content instead of 1 percent. However, most parts of the world, and most ports, are not covered by the strict sulfur legislation. In WWL’s case, 49 of the company’s 79 main trading ports lie outside the designated ECA.
   Until now, WWL operated with a voluntary policy limiting the average sulfur content in fuel to 1.5 percent.
   Last week, WWL said it is adopting that standard worldwide while vessels are in port in order to reduce potential respiratory and cardiac problems for people living in port cities.
   WWL is achieving its emission goal by switching to more expensive, and cleaner, marine gas oil instead of bunker fuel, and by using smokestack scrubbers in some cases.