With shipowners worrying whether sufficient fuel will be available for ships to comply with strict IMO regulations on sulphur emissions, the ICS was urging for the IMO to start work on a critical study that could look a the possible impact of all the changes required by the new MARPOL Annex VI regime to reduce atmospheric pollution, before its too late fort the oil refining industry to respond and invest.
Peter Hinchliffe, ICS secretary general, said: “We still think it’s essential that a global fuel study is carried out sufficiently in advance of 2020 to give the refiners adequate time to invest and react. The major refinery upgrading required could take a minimum of four or five years, perhaps longer, and we believe that completing the study in 2018 would simply be too late.”
Although supported by major shipping nations including China and some EU Member States, a majority of IMO Member States, led by the US, discarded the submission from ICS.
The current 50% price difference between low sulphur distillate and the residual fuel oil currently in use is expected to increase even further if the new demand created by the MARPOL requirements is not matched by increased supply.