Third IMO Greenhouse Gas Study 2014

284 Third IMO GHG Study 2014
The relative costs of using the alternative fuels depend on the relative price of the fuels, the availability of the
fuels, retrofitting costs if necessary, possible differences in prices for ships, new-build or second-hand, as well
as revenue changes associated with a possible change of cargo capacity.
If compliance with environmental regulation can be ensured by the use of certain fuels, ship owners will
weigh the costs of using the fuels against of the costs of other compliance options.
The environmental regulation that can be expected to have the greatest impact on the future fuel mix are the
NO x and SO x limits set by IMO (regulations 13 and 14 of MARPOL Annex VI respectively), which will become
more stringent in the future and that will also hold in ECAs that may additionally be established in the future.
SO x controls in regulation 14 apply to all fuel oil combustion equipment and devices on-board ships. The
regulation limits the maximum sulphur content of the fuel oil used and has two stringency levels: one stringency
level that holds in SO x emission control areas (SECAs) and another, less stringent level for outside SECAs, also
referred to as global requirements (see Table 54).
Table 54 – IMO sulphur requirements
Outside ECA (global requirement)
Inside ECA
4.50% m/m prior to 1 January 2012 1.50% m/m prior to 1 July 2010
3.50% m/m on and after 1 January 2012 1.00% m/m on and after 1 July 2010
0.50% m/m on and after 1 January 2020* 0.10% m/m on and after 1 January 2015
Source: IMO (2014, a)).
* Depending on the outcome of a review, to be concluded in 2018, as to the availability of the required fuel oil, this date could be
deferred to 1 January 2025.
Four SECAs have been established in 2014 to date (see Table 55).
Table 55 – Emission control areas established in 2014
SO x ECA NO x ECA
Baltic Sea area
X
North Sea area
X
North American area X X
United States Caribbean Sea area X X
Source: IMO (2014, b))
After 2012, the base year of this study, the sulphur requirements within and outside the SECAs will become
more stringent. From the beginning of 2015, the maximum sulphur content of fuel oil must not exceed 0.1%
m/m inside the SECAs, and either from 2020 or from 2025, depending on the availability of the required fuel
oil, must not exceed 0.5% m/m outside the SECAs.
In principle, there are two ways of complying with these sulphur requirements. Using fuel oil with the required
sulphur content is the primary method, and cleaning the exhaust gases to prevent sulphur oxide emissions is
the secondary method.
Fuel types that fulfil global 2020/2025 (0.5%) as well as the 2015 SECA (0.1%) requirements are distillates,
LNG, biofuels and other liquid or gaseous fuel options that can be used in dual-fuel engines, such as LPG,
methanol, ethanol, and dimethyl ether. 1
The global 0.5% requirement can be met by mixing low and high sulphur fuel (CONCAWE, 2012), whereas
this is not possible for the 2015 SECA requirement of 0.1% (TransBaltic, 2012).
Also, low sulphur HFO (LSHFO) can be expected to fulfil only the global 0.5% and not the 0.1% sulphur
requirement. LSHFO can either be produced from very low sulphur crude oils or, alternatively, high sulphur
residues are treated to produce low sulphur marine bunkers. HFO containing less than 0.5% sulphur is obtained
from crude oil with sulphur content less than approximately 0.15%. The level of sulphur content of crude oil
needed to produce HFO with 0.1% sulphur content is even lower. Not only are such crude oils rare, they
1
See DNV GL (2014) for an overview on alternative fuels for shipping.