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Press Release - BIMCO

It is the use of fossil fuels - for transport, power generation and manufacturing that has been identified as a prime source of harmful emissions. Sulphur dioxide, Nitrous oxides, particulates and CO2 are all now targeted as everyone attempts to make the air cleaner and the man's effects upon the world less problematic.

Ships are the most environmentally friendly way of moving goods around the world by far, but ships too have to play their part in the reduction of harmful emissions. For many years ships have mainly used heavy fuel oil in their engines, the "residual" oil left at the end of the refining process. Regulations now require them to use oil with much less sulphur in their auxiliary engines in port, and in certain sea areas close to land, such as the Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel. Other countries are also placing limits on exhaust gases which will require ships to use low sulphur fuels when near their coastlines. Indeed they may well from prevented from using heavy fuel oil, and have to switch to diesel or gasoil which is far cleaner, although much more expensive.

Cleaner fuels sound a great improvement, but produce a raft of problems for the marine engineer. It is sometimes a complex business to switch fuels, risking the engine shutting down if it is not done according to strict procedures. Combustion equipment often needs to be modified, and equipment such as fuel pumps and boilers might suffer problems. "Fuel management" becomes a serious and difficult balance if a ship is to remain both safe and legal, and even fuel with lower sulphur levels may contain damaging metallic residues.

There are some fuels which are far cleaner than others and may become more economic in the future. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been identified as a "fuel of the future" for its clean emissions when used in a diesel engine. It needs special containment, of course, while it lacks the availability of heavy fuel oil which is available in most ports, and a special distribution network will be necessary if LNG is to become a major marine fuel.

However, it has been used successfully in a number of ferry operations on the Norwegian coast, where LNG is readily available, in the offshore industry in the Norwegian sector and two small cargo carriers will test the concept in northern European waters.

It is a big question as to whether the world's refiners could cope with a huge demand for cleaner distillate fuel such as gas oil, should the shipping industry be forced to shift from its heavy fuel oil habits. Huge investments will be needed in refining capacity to make this happen. The cost of moving goods by sea seems likely to rise to pay for these cleaner, greener fuels.