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The IMO-administered Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) has just concluded a study to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing an Emission Control Area (ECA) in the Mediterranean region.

According to the study, further reducing the sulphur content of marine fuels in the Mediterranean would bear considerable costs, but the health and environmental benefits - including fewer respiratory diseases and premature deaths avoided from improved air quality - could outweigh the overall costs.

Both REMPEC and France presented, in the margins of last week's 73rd Marine Environmental Protection Committee meeting (MEPC 73), the progress and outcomes of their respective independent studies on a Mediterranean ECA.

REMPEC's study is to be reviewed by a committee of technical experts from 20 Mediterranean and European Union countries.

Their reflections are to then be discussed during a regional workshop on MARPOL Annex VI, which is due to take place at REMPEC's Malta headquarters in Valletta on December 11-13.

As previously reported, the French study found that a combined ECA which addresses both sulphur (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the same time would have the greatest positive effect in terms of reducing air pollution as well as corresponding socio-economic and ecological benefits.

As a next step, following the period of reviews and discussions, an application could be made by a coalition of Mediterranean countries to the MEPC requesting SOx, NOx and particle emission limits for international ships in the Mediterranean Sea.