The government of Iceland has announced a regulation which will effectively ban the use of heavy fuel oil in the country’s shipping sector.
The new regulation, which is intended to improve Iceland’s air quality and reduce levels of harmful emissions, commits ships operating within 12 nautical miles of the coast of Iceland to use fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 0.1% by January 2020. This is a significant drop compared to both the current limit of 3.5% and the 0.5% limit established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which will also come into effect in January; and brings Icelandic territorial seas in line with the standards set for Emission Control Areas by the IMO’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The permissible sulphur content limit will be set at 0.5% further out to sea and outside territorial waters.