The call for changes to the MARPOL regulations to ban the use of heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters was given at the end of the IMO meeting in November. The ban has been criticized as it contains exemptions and waivers that the Arctic States will offer.

In particular, five central Arctic coastal nations, Russia, Norway, Denmark (Greenland), Canada and the United States, will be able to issue waivers to their own flagged ships under the new legislation when they operate in their own waters. As a consequence, before mid-2029, a comprehensive ban on HFO does not come into force.

The Clean Arctic Alliance argues that this will create a two-tier framework for the safety and compliance of the environment in the Arctic because the regulation does not have flag-neutral or negative environmental effects for the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of the Arctic.

“The shipping industry knows that the use of HFO in the Arctic is unsustainable and questions around the black carbon content of VLSFO raise serious questions that need to be addressed,” says Methanol Institute Chief Operating Officer Chris Chatterton. 

The Safe Maritime Operations under Extreme Conditions: the Arctic Case (SEDNA)  project has placed forward technical provisions and relative safety risk assessments along with recommendations for the safety zone for three definitions of methanol bunkering: truck to ship, shore to ship, and ship to ship.

Earlier this year the project obtained a CEN Workshop Agreement for a process to discuss protection during the bunkering of methanol as a marine fuel.

Maritime Business World