The new sulphur limit on fuel used on board ships will be 0.50%. The current limit is 3.50% for ships operating outside designated emission control areas. This means we are going to see a significant global reduction in 2020. However, there are already established emission-controlled areas including: the Baltic Sea area, the North Sea area, and the North American area as well as the United States Caribbean Sea area. These areas have an even stricter sulphur limit of 0.10% which already is implemented. This means that ships operating within the already established emission-controlled areas will not get affected by the new IMO sulphur regulation.
To comply with the new IMO sulphur regulation, there are currently three options for shipowners: 1. Run on clean liquefied natural gas, 2. Use fuel oil that is low enough in sulphur, or 3. Install exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers. For more information click here.
