IMO's North-East Atlantic Emission Control Area faces delay of at least six months

The International Maritime Organization will delay the implementation of the North-East Atlantic Emission Control Area for sulfur contents in bunker fuels by at least six months, the UN agency has confirmed Oct. 30.

The ECA, which would be the largest of its kind, was approved during the 83th Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting this April and originally due to be adopted in an extraordinary session in mid-October for implementation from March 2028.

However, the IMO secretariat confirmed to Platts that the ECA rules are now scheduled to be adopted next April for implementation from September 2028.

The delay came after IMO member states voted to adjourn the extraordinary session to postpone the adoption of Net-Zero Framework, a separate regulatory piece opposed by the US and several petrostates, so they could not discuss other agenda items like the ECA.

The ECA, proposed by 27 EU member states, Iceland, the UK and the European Commission, will require ships to use 0.1%S fuels instead of 0.5%S fuels or be fitted with scrubbers, driving significant changes in marine fuel consumption patterns.

Marine fuel consumption in the control area is projected to increase from 265 petajoules in 2021 to 311 petajoules by 2030, with ships in Portuguese, Spanish and British waters accounting for 70% of total consumption, according to the proponents.

Without the ECA, annual marine fuel demand in the region was projected at 7.57 million mt in 2030, comprising 4.65 million mt of 0.5%S fuel oil, 980,000 mt of 3.5%S fuel oil, 1.6 million mt of 0.1%S marine gasoil, 329,000 mt of LNG and 5,000 mt of methanol, they said.

Based on the proponents' estimates, annual fuel costs would increase by Eur437 million ($504 million) if the 0.5%S fuel oil demand is entirely replaced by MGO and rise by Eur121 million when the demand is replaced by 0.1%S fuel oil.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the delivered bunker prices for 0.5%S fuel oil at $429/mt, 0.1%S fuel oil at $609/mt and MGO at $701/mt in Rotterdam Oct. 30.

The ECA, which covers waters off Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland, was approved in April by consensus and did not face opposition from the US and Middle Eastern petrostates like the Net-Zero Framework did.

In 2018, US President Donald Trump reportedly sought to delay the IMO's implementation of marine energy rules that would lower sulfur limits from 3.5% to 0.5% globally from 2020 in his administration but did not succeed. After returning to the White House in January, Trump voiced strong opposition to the Net-Zero Framework but didn't publicly comment on the North-East Atlantic ECA.