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The Maritime Group of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM MARITIME) will hold its regular meeting on 18-20 November in St. Petersburg, Russia, to discuss further measures to improve safety of navigation and reduce pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea.

The primary focus of the meeting will be on further measures to reduce emissions from ships in the Baltic, including new, more stringent requirements on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from shipping.

The meeting will particularly discuss the possibility to designate the Baltic Sea as a special NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) under IMO’s MARPOL 73/78 Convention, with tighter atmospheric emission restrictions.

“According to the most recent studies, tighter NECA restrictions, requiring an 80 percent reduction of emissions from marine diesel engines installed on ships on or after 1 January 2016, would reverse the increasing trend of NOx emissions in the Baltic Sea in the long run,” said Monika Stankiewicz, HELCOM’s Professional Secretary for maritime and response issues.

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is said to be one of the main contributors to the high nutrient concentrations that stimulate massive algae blooms in the Baltic. The most recent calculations identify shipping as the largest contributor to atmospheric nitrogen oxide deposition to the Baltic Sea with a share of 16 percent.

However, the present study claims the contribution reaches up to 50 percent in some areas and seasons. The total annual NOx emission from ships is estimated at more than 370 kilotons. The estimate is based on information from the HELCOM Automatic Identification System for monitoring ship traffic in the Baltic Sea and is verified against information on fuel consumption obtained from shipping companies and measurements of air quality near fairways.

The NOx emissions from shipping in Finnish waters alone are said to be higher than emissions from Finnish land-based traffic. With regards to the Baltic Sea, the emissions from shipping are comparable to the combined land-based NOx emissions from Denmark and Sweden. Most of these emissions are concentrated on the southern part of the Baltic Sea, around the Danish straits and the Kiel Canal where shipping is intense, but significant emissions can also be seen throughout the Gulf of Finland.

The Baltic Sea has already been the first to establish a special sulphur oxide (SOx) Emission Control Area (SECA). In a recent submission to IMO, HELCOM has reported the positive experience in implementing the world’s strictest regulations limiting the sulphur content of bunker fuel in a busy shipping area like the Baltic Sea.

The meeting will take place at the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy and will be conducted by the Chair of the HELCOM Maritime Group, Ms. Ingelore Hering.