Where does the sector stand?

Magda Daskalou, of Prevention at Sea, asks how the shipping sector got to the 2020 sulphur cap and takes a risk management perspective

Ship power systems emit a large amount of sulphur oxides with significant environmental impacts. To moderate these, international regulations have been issued to limit the sulphur content of ship fuels. In certain parts of the world, emission control areas (ECAs) are embedded within the MARPOL legislation, where stricter requirements are applied to the contents of bunker fuels being used. In the ECAs, new requirements were introduced in 2015 to limit the sulphur content of ship fuel to 0.1 per cent m/m. A new, lower global sulphur cap of 0.5 per cent m/m is planned for 2020.