Lowering sulphur oxide limits could cost Finland more than a billion euros

Shipowners concerned at availability of low-sulphur fuel

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As reported earlier this week, the sulphur concentration of fuel used by ships will be limited to a maximum of 1.0% from the beginning of March 2010 onwards, and from the beginning of 2015 the limit will be lowered to 0.1%. The current limit is 1.5 per cent.
      The Finnish Shipowners’ Association has calculated that with current prices the additional costs could be EUR 840 million annually, as ships would have to use appreciably more costly fuel than before.
     
According to some experts, Finland’s share of the additional costs of the restrictions could actually be more than EUR 840 million annually, as the new emission standards which are to be adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) this week will cause additional costs amounting to EUR 2 billion in the Baltic Sea region.
      In addition to sulphur, the limits for carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are also being tightened, which will also result in additional expenses, says Vice President Mika Nykänen from the Finnish Shipowners’ Association, who is currently attending a meeting on the proposed amendments to the regulations at IMO Headquarters in London.
      While pointing out that the Baltic Sea accounts for around 0.3 % of the worldwide consumption of marine bunker fuels, Nykänen is unwilling to evaluate the impact of these restrictions on prices.
     
”It is important that Finland will keep the issue in the public eye, and if the availability of the 0.1% bunker fuel turns out to be problematic, authorities will have to intervene in the matter”, Nykänen demands.
     
The additional costs relating to the tighter regulations on ship emissions apparently came as a surprise to the government last week.
      However, the Cabinet Committee on European Union Affairs decided last Friday that when it comes to the conservation of the Baltic Sea, the new regulations to reduce harmful emissions from ships are so important that Finland does not want to endanger the international consensus by opposing the proposed amendments.
     
Finland's foreign trade is largely based on sea transport, and the fuels used by ships in the particularly sensitive areas of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea will be subject to tighter environmental standards than those applied to oceans.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tighter emission standards for ships could cost Finland in excess of EUR 800 million (6.10.2008)
  Baltic Sea panel calls for tighter emission restrictions (19.5.2008)

Links:
  Cabinet Committee on European Union Affairs
  Finnish Shipowners´ Association

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