Staying at the forefront of regulations

Major environmental regulations dealing with air pollution, greenhouse gases and invasive marine species will come into effect this decade, aiming at reducing the environmental impact of shipping. Their scope will include international, regional, country and state level regulations. Our ambition is to be at the forefront of environmental regulations, both those already implemented and those expected.

News | 2017年3月27日星期一

Pending approval by regulatory authorities, the vessels will be owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics ASA, starting April 2017. Wilhelmsen will hold a minority share of 37.8% in WWLASA. Without having direct control of the vessels, Wilhelmsen’s green shipping ambitions and expectations will be communicated through board representation. On the following pages is an overview of some major upcoming maritime environmental regulations and how we as owners expect companies in which we have a material stake to prepare to handle the challenges

Regulations in the pipeline
Global regulatory price of CO2 The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has decided on a roadmap for developing a comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, Including the adoption of a data collection system. The roadmap is to result in the adoption of the IMO strategy in the spring of 2023 and will include short-, mid- and long-term further measure(s), as required, with implementation schedules. Concurrently, the EU is developing a proposal to include maritime transport emissions in the EU’s GHG reduction commitments. It is also anticipated that the EU will adopt a measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) requirement in the short-medium term to better quantify the scale and distribution of GHG emissions from the European fleet.

Reducing fuel consumed per unit transported is the most efficient contribution to reduce CO2 emissions, and we work to influence IMO to form new regulations aiming to obtain a level playing field for the shipping industry. With the advanced fleet performance monitoring system from Shippersys installed on all our vessels, we are prepared for the adopted MRV system.

Ballast water management convention
The IMO Ballast Water Management Convention of 2004 was ratified by the required number of countries exceeding the required 35% of the world tonnage on 8 September 2016 and will consequently come into force from 8 September 2017. The IMO convention will require vessels to install ballast water treatment systems no later than the first renewal of the IOPP
certificate. However, the US implemented the convention for US waters on 1 January 2016, meaning that all vessels entering into US waters now are required to have ballast water treatment systems in operation at the first scheduled dry-docking after this date. The US regulations require US Coast Guard (USCG) type approved ballast water treatment systems. At the end of 2016, three ballast water treatment systems received the final USCG type approval. As a consequence of lack of USCG type approved systems,
vessels due for dry-docking in 2017/8 have, when applied, in general terms been granted an extension from USCG until their next dry-docking.

We endorse ballast water treatment, and several vessels are equipped with pilot installations to find the most suitable and reliable system for retrofit. We are following closely the development with USCG type approvals to make the right choice of equipment, meeting USCG as well as IMO standards.

The Hong Kong convention
The 2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships aims to ensure that ships, when recycled, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety or to the environment. The convention is yet to be ratified by the necessary 15 states, representing 40% of world merchant shipping. Norway was the first country to sign the convention. By end 2016, five countries had signed the convention.

Our policy is that all vessels should be recycled in accordance with The Hong Kong Convention. All our vessels are issued with Inventory of Hazardous Materials/Green Passport, certified by class before recycling.

Emission control areas
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) defines certain sea areas as “special areas” in which, for reasons related to their oceanography, ecological conditions and sea traffic volume, require special controls for the prevention of sea pollution. Today, there are several such Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in operation in both Europe, the US and the Caribbean, covering SOX and NOX emissions. The major ECAs are listed below.

To comply with the new requirements, vessels are to use fuel oil with a sulphur content of no more than 0.5% when at berth, or other equivalent measures to reduce emissions. This will year by year be gradually extended until 2020, where the complete designated ECAs are covered.

Through our low sulphur policy, we have gained vast experience with low sulphur operations. In 2016, our sulphur policy was revised, now all our vessels operated by WWL are either consuming fuel containing 0.1% Sulphur or uses exhaust gas scrubbers to clean the exhaust gases in all ports around the world. To meet the requirement of future ECAs, we are working closely within the group and with industry partners to find the most cost-efficient and environmentally sound solution. Currently there is no single solution to the sulphur challenge, and the group is engaged in a four-stream approach exploring different options. One initiative is installation and testing of scrubbers on board one of our existing vessels and installation on board our vessels. We support the Trident Alliance initiative to ensure robust enforcement of maritime sulphur regulations and are willing to collaborate to help bring it about.