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The Irish Exporters Association has voiced its concern regarding the recent agreement by the European Council, Commission and Parliament on the sulphur content of marine fuels.

In line with the Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention, the limits for the sulphur content of marine fuels used in designated SO2 Emission Control Areas (SECAs) will be 1% until 31 December 2014 and 0.1% as from 1 January 2015.

The IMO standard of 0.5% for sulphur limits outside SECAs will be mandatory in EU waters by 2020. This will also be valid for passenger ships operating outside SECAs to which the current regime of 1.5 % applies until that date.

John Whelan [pictured], chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association, is quoted as saying: “Our concern is the knock on effect on freight rates for exports, which could be enormous - as high as 25 percent we estimate.’’

"Let’s be clear, we are not against cutting sulphur emissions, but pushing them down to 0.1 percent in this tight time frame is completely unreasonable.

"As a matter of urgency we have asked the Government to immediately seek a derogation from the Directive until such time as shipping technology can adjust to ensure the low sulphur requirements can be meet without major freight rate costs increases."