New emission rules for ocean carriers take effect Jan. 1

Wallenius Wilhelmson is taking several steps to prepare for the new low-sulfur requirements.    Many ocean carriers are preparing for operating costs to rise when more stringent international standards for reducing emissions of sulfur, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter from ocean-going vessels in specially designated coastal areas go into effect Jan. 1.
   Fuel is the No. 1 cost for ocean carriers, although bunker rates have declined some in the second half of the year along with the price of crude oil. 
   Under International Maritime Organization rules, commercial vessels on the high seas are allowed to burn bunker fuel with a 3.5-percent sulfur content, down from 4.5 percent in 2012. The United Nations body during the past decade also has created Emission Control Areas around North America, the North Sea, Baltic Sea and the Caribbean. Special measures are required in these zones to control air pollution from vessels. The North America ECA extends for 200 miles off the coast. 
   Most companies are expected to comply by using cleaner burning, low-sulfur marine diesel oil, which is about 35 percent to 50 percent more expensive than bunker fuel depending on the source. Fuel in ECA areas currently can have 1 percent sulfur content, but in two days the allowable sulfur level drops to 0.1 percent.
   By 2020, the sulfur limits will drop to 0.5 percent everywhere.
   Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a major vehicle transporter, is taking a four-step approach towards compliance, according to Michael Derby, East Coast general manager and head of environmental affairs for the Americas.
   The roll-on, roll-off carrier has retrofitted tanks on vessels to carry marine diesel oil and is experimenting with scrubber technology on one vessel to clean the exhaust so it can use higher sulfur fuel while producing the same emission benefit, he said last spring at an Environmental Protection Agency summit on port pollution.
   Over the long term, WWL is also looking at alternative fuel sources such as liquefied natural gas, wind and solar. Although each has limitations right now, “that’s the direction that we have to go,” he said.
   Finally, Derby added, the carrier is pressing oil companies to develop new low-sulfur products that can be used in marine engines.
   WWL is a founding member of the Trident Alliance, a consortium of ocean carriers that is actively lobbying European and other national authorities to effectively enforce the ultra-low sulfur requirements they have adopted through the IMO so that cheaters don’t gain an advantage using cheaper fuel.