SoCal ports to consider low-sulfur fuel regs for cargo vessel

SoCal ports to consider low-sulfur fuel regs for cargo vessel Southern California's ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are considering a change in their governing bylaws that could offer a financial incentive for shipping firms to burn a cleaner version of diesel fuel.
   Los Angeles port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz revealed on Thursday that the port's staff, in conjunction with their Long Beach counterparts, has drafted tariff changes regarding the use of low-sulfur fuel in vessel main engines. Low-sulfur fuel, which has a sulfur content less than 2 percent, burns much cleaner than bunker fuel and generates dramatically less oxides of sulfur into the air.
   The two ports, according to Knatz, plan to meet with industry officials in the near future to discuss the proposed tariff change. She suggested that offering shipping lines a financial incentive to use the cleaner, but more expensive fuel was open for discussion when the ports meet with the industry representatives.
   Knatz said the ports hopes to reach a cooperative agreement with industry officials regarding the proposed rule by May 2008.
   While Los Angeles and Long Beach each have their own tariffs, Knatz indicated that the neighboring ports were working jointly to develop similar rules under the auspices of their mutually developed Clean Air Action Plan that was approved in November 2006.
   The California Air Resources Board implemented a similar low-sulfur rule for oceangoing vessels auxiliary engines in January. A federal district court subsequently struck down the rule and blocked CARB from enforcing it on appeal, following legal challenges by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later issued a stay on the injunction, allowing CARB to enforce the rule while the regulatory agency appeals the original court decision.
   Following the district court's original striking of the CARB fuel rule, the PMSA, an industry group representing the majority of West Coast-calling shipping lines, advised its members to continue voluntarily abiding by the CARB rule. According to the PMSA, its members have continued to use the low-sulfur fuel since the original district court ruling. ' Keith Higginbotham