Shipowners and commodity traders are now digesting the impacts of President Donald Trump's widely anticipated announcement that the US would pull out of the six nation accord reached with Iran in 2015. The 2015 agreement with Iran- officially the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" (JCPOA), with the European Union also a participant, saw a rigorous regime of economic sanctions against Iran rolled back.

Source: Seatrade Maritime News

Container shipping industry market intelligence provider SeaIntel has highlighted in a recent report, a mismatch between the phase-in of ultra large container ships (ULCS) and the injection of feeder tonnage from 2018 to 2020.

Source: Seatrade Maritime News

The shipping industry is undecided whether or not there will be enough low sulphur fuel available when new environmental regulations come into force in 2020.

MarPoll, this site's quarterly survey, has seen more than 500 votes on nine topical questions with the poll set to close later today. As it stands 46% of Splash readers believe there will not be enough low sulphur fuel come January 1, 2020 when the new IMO regulations kick in, with a slim majority, 54%, believing there will be enough to go around.

The IMO stipulated two years ago that marine fuel will have a 0.50% sulphur cap come 2020, down from the current 3.5%. Bunker costs across the world could jump by 25%, or $24bn, when the new regulations come into force, according to a report from consultants Wood Mackenzie last month.

Source: Splash 24/7

Time is fast running out for implementation by IMO member states of the 0.5% global sulphur in fuel cap by 1 January 2020, Esben Poulsson, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), has warned.

"While ICS fully supports the objectives of the IMO cap, the overnight introduction of this regulatory game-changer will have enormous implications for ship operations. It will be vital to get the implementation right," Poulsson noted in the just published ICS annual review.

"As well as concerns as to whether sufficient quantities of compliant low sulphur fuels will be available in every port, there are a number of complex practical issues which IMO needs to urgently resolve within the next 18 months if the unfair treatment of ships is to be avoided," Poulsson added.

Source: Splash 24/7

In a similar fashion to Gulf coast offshore energy producers who, in some instances, must document and count the environmental impact of their third party standby boats, offshore service vessels and other assets, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles could soon be burdened with yet another layer of environmental rules.

 

In Southern California, beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) are bracing for yet another set of regulations; this time as a function of cargo transported to and from warehouses and even off-site intermodal rail yards.

 

The 2006 Los Angeles-Long Beach Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) and clean-truck program has already yielded remarkable results. In fact, and over the course of the last ten years, the two ports have cut diesel emissions by 84%, Sulfur Oxides by 97% and Nitrogen Oxides by almost 50%. That effort continues today. The fear that tighter regulations here - but not adopted elsewhere - would reduce cargo throughput in California hasn't yet materialized. Nevertheless, some market share is being eroded, in part as a function of a more efficient and expanded Panama Canal, to the East and Gulf Coasts.

Source: Maritime Logistics Professional

At this week's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting in London, IMO member states moved towards banning the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic. Eight states and a range of NGOs proposed the ban as a means of limiting harm to the Arctic marine environment in the event of a spill. 

Finland, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States sponsored the proposal, which calls for a full HFO prohibition on a rapid timetable. "The ban on HFO should be implemented as soon as possible, and any delay in implementation of the HFO ban by eligible ships should be short-lived," the petitioners wrote. "The co-sponsors propose that the implementation date of the ban be set for no later than the end of 2021."

The proposal received backing from 14 other nations, and at the meeting, MEPC 72 delegates directed a subcommittee to develop text for a ban on the carriage and use of HFO, along with a study of its impact. MEPC's Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) will meet in February 2019 to carry out this task. 

Source: Maritime Executive