Study begins to assess SOx ECA in the Mediterranean

The new study will assess the benefits, costs and feasibility of implementing an emission control area (ECA) to limit sulphur oxides (SOx) from ships in the Mediterranean Sea and will consider, among other things, the potential health benefits for people living around the Mediterranean, as well as cost implications for shipowners.

There are currently four designated SOx-ECAs worldwide:

• the Baltic Sea area;
• the North Sea area;
• the North American area (covering designated coastal areas off the US and Canada);
• the United States Caribbean Sea area (around Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands).

In the ECASs, the limit for sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships is 0.1% mass by mass (m/m), while outside these areas the limit is currently 3.5% m/m, falling to 0.5% m/m from 1 January 2020.

Earlier in June, an international consortium led by Energy & Environmental Research Associates (EERA) signed the contract with REMPEC to carry out the study, to be finalized by spring 2019.

Funding for the study, which REMPEC will present to IMO’s Marine Environment Protection committee (MEPC), comes from the Mediterranean Trust Fund, the IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme and a voluntary contribution from the Government of Italy.

REMPEC is administered by IMO in cooperation with UN Environment (UNEP). Its main objectives are to contribute to preventing and reducing pollution from ships, to combat pollution in case of emergency and to assist Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of Mediterranean to meet their obligations under the Convention and its protocols.

The Barcelona Convention Contracting Parties are: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, and the European Union.