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Shipping enforcement breakthrough

September 14, 2014

Efforts to improve air quality at sea have been boosted by the decision of the Danish government to spend DKK 7 million (around €940,000) on making sure ships observe the regulations aimed at guaranteeing clean air. The money will be used for controls to make sure all ships comply with air quality legislation.

The immediate issue is new regulations, which take effect on 1 January 2015, requiring all ships operating in the Baltic and North Sea emission control areas to only burn low-sulphur (0.1%) fuel or have SOx abatement technology installed.

Campaigners who lobbied for Denmark to make this money available – notably the country’s Ecocouncil NGO – believe several factors led to the decision, but a very important one was concerns held by progressive ship owners that they would face unfair competition from ship owners who ignored fuel rules unless proper enforcement took place.

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