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Maersk Wants Port of Hong Kong to Ban Dirty Fuel
http://www.ttnews.com/articles/printnews.aspx?storyid=30948
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| Maersk Wants Port of Hong Kong to Ban Dirty Fuel
Maersk Line, the world’s largest container-shipping company, has threatened to stop using cleaner fuel at the Port of Hong Kong if the government doesn’t mandate higher quality oil for carriers in the city. Without rules, shipping lines that burn polluting fuel benefit from cheaper costs compared with Maersk, which uses a cleaner fuel that is also more expensive, Bloomberg reported, citing Tim Smith, head of the company’s North Asia division. Government incentives for switching to cleaner fuels for shipping lines at Hong Kong — the world’s third-busiest container port — don’t cover additional costs, and payments are often delayed, Smith said. Maersk and 17 other operators have voluntarily used low-sulfur oil for the past two years to help curb Hong Kong’s pollution, the worst among global financial centers, Bloomberg reported. By Transport Topics |
13pc of ocean-going ships registered with low-sulphur scheme
Submitted by admin on Dec 29th 2012, 12:00am
News› Hong Kong
ENVIRONMENT
Keith Wallis keith.wallis@scmp.com
Proportion of container vessels signing up to cleaner fuel programme higher, at almost 1 in 4
An average of 13 per cent of ocean-going ships calling at Hong Kong each day have registered with the government’s low-sulphur fuel incentive scheme, which aims to cut pollution from vessels, a South China Morning Post investigation found.
The percentage is higher for massive container ships using Kwai Chung container port. The survey showed almost one in four container ships using Kwai Chung registered with the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) programme, launched at the end of October.
Former Marine Department director Roger Tupper was surprised the figures were so high.
The Post investigation, which tracked vessel arrivals and departures over a week, found around 70 large container ships, tankers, general cargo vessels and cruise liners visited Hong Kong each day. Of these about eight or nine are signed up to the scheme, which will cost the government HK$260 million over three years.
Around 550 ships were registered with the EPD scheme up to mid-December, of which 192 had made a total of 460 calls at Hong Kong by the end of November. Some HK$2.45 million in port dues had been waived, according to a department spokeswoman.
Operators of ships registered under the scheme receive a 50 per cent cut in port-related fees if the vessels burn low-sulphur fuel while berthed in Hong Kong.
But the scheme has been criticised, as the rebate only offsets between 30 and 45 per cent of the increased cost of using the more expensive low-sulphur diesel.
The scheme also sidesteps a key demand from environmentally aware shipping lines for government regulations mandating the use of low-sulphur diesel.
Civic Exchange, the public policy think tank, said marine sources of sulphur dioxide emissions accounted for 519 premature deaths a year in the Pearl River Delta, including 385 in Hong Kong. Some 75 to 80 per cent of all emissions come from container vessels, it said.
The Post found that some shipping lines are enthusiastic supporters of the EPD scheme, registering massive fleets even though they face higher costs. These include Orient Overseas Container Line, Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd.
But other container lines, like Singapore’s APL, have either yet to register any ships or have registered just a handful, even though they were signatories to the Fair Winds Charter, a voluntary industry initiative to use low-sulphur fuel in Hong Kong.
While the EPD has introduced its incentive scheme, regulations have yet to materialise.
Veronica Booth, Civic Exchange senior project manager, said: “It’s government’s job to regulate. [The maritime sector has] put its money where its mouth is through participating in the Fair Winds Charter. It’s government’s turn now.”
Topics:
Environment
Low-sulphur fuel incentive scheme
Container Ships
Almost 1 in 4 container vessels sign up to cleaner fuel programme.
Source URL (retrieved on Dec 29th 2012, 7:51am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1114738/13pc-ocean-going-ships-registered-low-sulphur-scheme
LNG Uptake in China Unlikely in Coming Years, says Supplier
http://shipandbunker.com/news/apac/891100-lng-uptake-in-china-unlikely-in-coming-years-says-supplier
Engineers stand inside an LNG tank.
China Marine Bunker Supply Company (Chimbusco) has said the vast majority of Chinese shipowners are unlikely to switch to using LNG as a bunker fuel and will instead stick to using bunker oil, according to comments reported by SinoShip News.
The supplier also said it expects bunker fuel demand in the country will maintain an annual growth rate of 10 percent over the next three years.
Switching to LNG is seen by some in the industry as a viable way to address tightening Emissions Control Area (ECA) regulations, with engine manufacturrer Wärtsilä saying earlier this week it is the alternative fuel that offers the greatest potential for cost-effective compliance.
While there are currently no ECAs in Asia, last month Hong Kong‘s environment undersecretary Christine Loh said the government’s determination to set up an ECA for Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) area should not be underestimated.
A one year study by Lloyd’s Register concluded that the global acceptance of LNG as a bunker fuel will come down to price, but Singapore, Rotterdam, and Gothenburg have nevertheless all pledged to have LNG bunkering in place for 2015.
Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at editor@shipandbunker.com
Hong Kong Moves to Tackle Deadly Ship Smog Fouling City’s Skies – Bloomberg
Dear KS Wong
we fully support your intentions to attempt to resolve the pollution mess left by the last inept administration of Donald Tsang which failed in its duty of care to
the Environment and to the people of Hong Kong.
We know Veronica Booth at Civic Exchange did a lot of work on the marine pollution problem.
The information below may be of interest to you.
It’s high time we had an Emissions Control Area for ships and designated Clean Air Zones (Euro 4 up/ hybrid / electric only) for roadside areas like Nathan Rd, Causeway Bay and Central.
Years ago we suggested bus routes terminating outside these areas with only hybrid shuttle buses plying the main thoroughfare routes – of course that was before we realised Donald Tsang’s brother ran Citybus and First Bus.
Kind regards,
James Middleton
Chairman
From: tony_yt_lee@epd.gov.hk [mailto:tony_yt_lee@epd.gov.hk]
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 17:54
To: James Middleton
Cc: christopher.dewolf@gmail.com; enquiry@epd.gov.hk; phoebelui@epd.gov.hk
Subject: E(11/1515) : Port Strategy – A new dawn
Dear Mr Middleton,
Thank you for your messages of 23 and 26 June. The consolidated reply of EPD and the Marine Department (MD) is as follows.
1. What is the actual fuel sulphur cap here?
Ans. According to Regulation 29(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation, the sulphur content of any fuel oil used on board ships in Hong Kong is not to exceed 4.5% m/m.
2. How is this enforced for incoming vessels which refueled elsewhere?
Ans. According to Regulations 33(4) and 34 of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation, all incoming ships of 400 gross tonnage or above and engaged in international voyage shall carry Bunker Delivery Notes (BDN) with the associated representative sample of the fuel on board. The BDN and the representative sample are subject to inspection by Government Surveyors.
3. What samples are taken to ensure the ships are conforming to “grey smoke emissions instead of black smoke”?
Ans. MD is currently using Ringelmann Chart for the identification of black smoke. If a ship emits smoke of or darker than Shade 2 for continuous 3 minutes, the emission is regarded as black smoke.
4. Since these Charter member shipping lines have opted to switch to ULSD only at berth and not whilst sailing within Hong Kong waters what has Government done to seek their compliance whilst underway rather than just at berth?
Ans. The Fair Winds Charter signatories have committed themselves to switching their vessels to 0.5% sulphur fuel when at berth. While sailing underway within HK waters, these vessels must meet the sulphur limit requirement stipulated under MARPOL Annex VI. As mentioned, since China has not designated its waters (including that of Hong Kong) as an Emission Control Area, there is no vehicle for Hong Kong to “require” operators to use fuels of more stringent specifications.
5. What is the sulphur content of bunker fuel supplied for refueling in Hong Kong?
Ans. It must be below 4.5% and is usually in the range of 3.5% – 4.0%. You may contact the local suppliers in the attached document for details or access the MD’s website on the link provided for that document.
http://www.mardep.gov.hk/en/msnote/pdf/oilsupreg.pdf <http://www.mardep.gov.hk/en/msnote/pdf/oilsupreg.pdf>
6. Hong Kong is supposed to be an independent territory for 50 years from 1997 is it not? We make our own laws do we not ? The EPD intends to designate Low Emission Zones for traffic on Nathan Road, Causeway Bay and Central so that only Euro 5 diesels / hybrids will be allowed to enter those areas. I see no difference with doing the same for HK waters – either meet the relevant standards or do not enter our waters or be fined if you do.
Using “China did not do it” is a lame duck reply more worthy of Donald Tsang than a body supposed to be looking after the air quality here , in this 50 year independent SAR.
Ans. Under MARPOL Annex VI, there are general requirements on the sulphur content of any fuel oil used on board ships. There is also a mechanism for member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to apply for designating its waters as an Emission Control Area (ECA), within which the requirements are more stringent than the general requirements. This mechanism is not mandated for all member States to designate its waters, in whole or in part, as an ECA. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong is an associate member of IMO, not a full member (member state) and thus cannot file an application for ECA designation by Hong Kong itself.
Best regards,
Tony YT Lee
From: tony_yt_lee@epd.gov.hk [mailto:tony_yt_lee@epd.gov.hk] Sent: 27 August, 2012 11:14 To: James Middleton Cc: cwwong@epd.gov.hk; EPD HKG
Subject: E(12/2120) IN BRIEF (Page 2)|HongKong Business|chinadaily.com.cn
Dear Mr Middleton,
Thank you for your message. Ships operating in the North America Emission Control Area (ECA) must use fuel containing not more than 1% sulphur. This would help reduce the ship emissions in the ECA, but not in our local waters.
2. Oil companies in HK normally supply bunker fuels with a sulphur content not more than 2.8%, better than the 3.5% limit stipulated in MARPOL Annex VI. We are not in a position to speak on behalf of oil companies as to whether they would supply bunker fuels of even much lower sulphur content.
Best regards,
Tony Y T Lee
===============
| “James Middleton” <dynamco@netvigator.com>
24/08/2012 06:24 |
|
Dear EPD
Does HK offer low sulphur bunker fuel in a like manner ?
If not, why not ?
Kind regards,
James Middleton
Chairman
www.cleartheair.org.hk
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2012-08/11/content_15664641.htm
Sinopec plans low-sulfur fuel for ships
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, the country’s largest fuel supplier, plans to supply low-sulfur shipping fuel at Chinese ports as ships sailing to the US and Canada are required to burn the cleaner fuel.
Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, is arranging barges, tanks and pipelines to supply shipping fuel, or bunker, containing 1 percent sulfur, Zhou Yiqing, the vice manager of the bunker department at Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Co, said in an interview by telephone. The company will start with “big” ports, he said, without elaborating.
Ships sailing in US and Canadian waters are required to use bunker fuel with a maximum sulfur content of 1 percent starting this month under air-pollution standards set out by the North American Emission Control Area. Vessels outside the controlled areas can use bunker with a maximum sulfur content of 3.5 percent.
Hong Kong Moves to Tackle Deadly Ship Smog Fouling City’s Skies
By Natasha Khan & Ben Richardson – Nov 23, 2012 8:19 PM GMT+0800
Hong Kong will force oceangoing ships to burn cleaner fuel while at berth, bringing relief to residents facing a third straight year of near-record pollution.
The city also said it would phase out polluting trucks and buses and clamp down on smoky vehicles, according to a government release today which detailed an emissions reduction plan to 2020.
Forcing ships to switch to the more expensive, cleaner fuel may reduce the smog that causes more than 3,000 premature deaths a year in Hong Kong, where the world’s highest rents, shortages of schools and the filthiest air of any global financial hub are deterring skilled workers. Vessels can now burn oil containing 3,500 times the sulfur as auto diesel sold in the city.
Soot from burning marine fuel accounted for 31 percent of respirable particles in Hong Kong’s air in 2008, according to the city’s government.
The decision to replace the current voluntary program that international shipping companies say rewards polluters was part of a raft of measures Hong Kong and the neighboring Chinese province of Guangdong endorsed to meet 2015 air emission targets.
To contact the reporters on this story: Natasha Khan in Hong Kong at nkhan51@bloomberg.net; Ben Richardson in Hong Kong at brichardson8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net
Low-sulphur diesel fuel for ships in Hong Kong should be compulsory
Submitted by admin on Sep 26th 2012, 12:00am
Comment›Insight & Opinion
SCMP Editorial
From today shipowners and operators can claim a 50 per cent reduction in port facility and light dues for switching to low-sulphur diesel while their vessels are docked in Hong Kong. The potential sacrifice of port revenue is a drop in the harbour when you consider that a five-year study attributes at least 519 deaths a year in the Pearl River Delta region, including 385 in Hong Kong, directly to sulphur dioxide emissions from ships, not counting deaths from the long-term health effects of exposure.
Making it compulsory to use low-sulphur fuel would have been a better option, as other major ports have found. Failing that, the three-year incentive programme is one government giveaway that few would object to, since it would save lives and help contain shipping costs. It follows the launch in 2010 of a purely voluntary scheme by 17 shipping lines that expires soon.
Given the co-operation so far of owners, operators and agents, it seems scarcely believable that the new scheme could be scuttled bygovernment red tape, such as applying afresh for the subsidy each time a vessel calls here, and lodging certified documents including engine log books by specific deadlines after a ship has departed. A shipowners’ spokesman asks whether they should pay money to comply with bureaucratic and sometimes impossible procedures to qualify for a subsidy that covers only part of the cost of the fuel switch.
While ship emissions are responsible for only 18 per cent of sulphur dioxide in the city’s air, they reach residential areas easily because they are released at a lower level. Think tank Civic Exchange estimates 3.8 million people are at risk of excessive exposure. Untangling the red tape seems like a case that should be delegated to new environment undersecretary Christine Loh Kung-wai, founder of think tank Civic Exchange, which conducted the five-year study of health effects jointly with the University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology. Hopefully she can convince the government to make the fuel switch mandatory rather than risk losing shipowners’ co-operation with a half-baked solution.
Topics:
Sulphur dioxide emissions
Low-sulphur fuel
Ship emissions
Source URL (retrieved on Sep 26th 2012, 5:52am): http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1047312/low-sulphur-diesel-fuel-ships-hong-kong-should-be-compulsory
www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/news…/EA_Panel_20120528c_eng.pdf
www.legco.gov.hk/yr11-12/english/…/ea/…/ea0528cb1-1949-5-e.pdf
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr11-12/english/panels/ea/papers/ea1221cb1-625-3-e.pdf
shipping in HKG waters contributes:
31% of Hong Kong’s respirable suspended particulates / 23% of SO2 / 27% of NOx
Ships urged to use cleaner fuel as 400 die each year
HK Standard
About 400 Hong Kong people a year die unnecessarily from breathing in bunker fuel from ocean-going vessels that come to the city, research by a think-tank has found out.
Mary Ann Benitez
Thursday, September 20, 2012
About 400 Hong Kong people a year die unnecessarily from breathing in bunker fuel from ocean-going vessels that come to the city, research by a think-tank has found out.
The report, titled A Price Worth Paying, took five years to produce and is the first comprehensive study of the impact of emissions from container ships, cruise liners and oil tankers in the Pearl River Delta region, Hong Kong and Macau.
The study, released by Civic Exchange, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Atmospheric Research Center, and the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, has called on the authorities to mandate that ships use cleaner fuels.
The report, financed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, showed that sulfur dioxide emitted from ships results in 519 people dying each year in the delta region, and 75 percent of them are Hongkongers.
A total of 93 die in the inner delta region, including Macau and Shenzhen, and 42 in the outer delta region including Jiangmen and Huizhou.
Using government pollution and Hospital Authority data in 2008 and computer simulation, the team found that “shipping is by far the most important source of sulfur dioxide pollution, more than that of vehicular emissions,” Civic Exchange’s head of transport and sustainability research, Simon Ng Ka- wing, said.
Lai Hak-kan of the HKU School of Public Health said the 384 deaths in Hong Kong a year as a result of the pollution by ships is “a very conservative estimate.”
The team also found that 75 to 80 percent of all emissions, both within and beyond Hong Kong waters, came from container vessels, while cruise ships accounted for 10 percent. “If we are going to have bigger terminals to accommodate larger cruise ships, the emission problem will worsen,” Ng said.
Emission hot spots are the container terminals in Kwai Chung, Shekou and Yantian on the mainland, and the main fairways cutting through Hong Kong – the East Lamma Channel, Ma Wan Channel and the Urmston Road waterway going to Shekou.
“Shekou and Yantian are basically our neighbors,” he said.
“If there is a downwind, then a lot of pollutants are blown into Hong Kong.”
Alexis Lau Kai-hon, director of the HKUST Atmospheric Research Center, said: “The take-home message is really that Hong Kong is affected substantially by marine pollution.”
At 15 micrograms per cubic meter, Hongkongers inhale the highest level of the major pollutant, compared with 1-2 micrograms inJiangmen, Guangzhou and Foshan, which are further inland.
“Secondly, the pollution is highest when the ships are at berth,” Lau said.
The authorities should be asking ships to switch to 0.5 percent sulfur when berthed in Hong Kong waters, or mandate a 0.1 percent sulfur limit within local waters, he says.
The long-term goal is to designate local waters as an “emission control area” and require ships within 185 kilometers of Hong Kong to use 0.1 percent sulfur.
This would reduce deaths by 91 percent to 33 a year in the Hong Kong, the research found.
Shipping news
The shipping industry has had an easy ride compared with the airline industry when it comes to emission controls. Ocean-going ships are fuelled by probably the dirtiest fuel on the planet, which generally has a 3.5 per cent sulphur content. Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in the world, with some 410,560 arrivals and departures last year. This comes at a price for the city’s people, who in 2008 had about 16,500 tons of sulphur dioxide dumped on them. This figure rises to 142,000 tons if we include emissions outside Hong Kong waters but which also affect the territory. These figures were arrived at by an audit undertaken by the University of Science and Technology. Sulphur dioxide emissions from shipping accounts for 18-20 per cent of the total amount by weight in Hong Kong, but has a disproportionately higher effect than other sources such as power stations, because it is emitted at much lower levels. These findings are contained in a report by the Civic Exchange published yesterday entitled “A Price Worth Paying: the case for controlling marine emissions in the Pearl River Delta”. The report also contains a study by the University of Hong Kong’s school of public health on the health impact of the emissions by ocean-going vessels. Unsurprisingly they are not good. About 385 avoidable deaths a year in Hong Kong are caused by short-term emissions from shipping. But it is likely that long-term exposure of one year and upwards could result in four to 10 times the number of deaths. This appalling situation can be resolved relatively easily, the Civic Exchange says. Setting up an emissions control area of 100 kilometres around Hong Kong in which vessels used fuel with a 0.1 per cent sulphur content would cut the emissions by 91 per cent but would require co-operation with Pearl River Delta authorities. Using 0.1 per cent sulphur fuel in Hong Kong waters would reduce sulphur dioxide emissions by 70 per cent. All it takes for this to come into effect is for the government to act. The last government was notorious for its inaction on environmental issues. The new government with its new line-up at the Environment Bureau seems poised for action. This is low-hanging fruit, so hopefully it will be grabbed soon.
Contact Us Have you got any stories that Lai See should know about? E-mail them to howard.winn@scmp.com [1]
Topics:
Hong Kong
Director of Public Prosecutions
Shipping
Air Pollution
Finance
Source URL (retrieved on Sep 20th 2012, 5:34am): http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1040945/gerard-mccoy-denies-move-be-hong-kongs-next-dpp
Links:
[1] mailto:howard.winn@scmp.com
HK suffers most deaths in region from ship pollution
Submitted by admin on Sep 20th 2012, 12:00am
News›Hong Kong
ENVIRONMENT
Ada Lee ada.lee@scmp.com
Sulphur dioxide emissions from vessels cost lives of at least 365 people in city, says think tank, as it calls for stricter rules on fuels
Hong Kong has suffered the most from ship emissions in the Pearl River Delta, with locals accounting for 75 per cent of deaths related to sulphur dioxide released from vessels, a think tank found.
The air quality at Kwai Chung and Tsim Sha Tsui could be worst-hit by ship pollutants, researchers behind a five-year study by Civic Exchange suggest.
The think tank, founded by Christine Loh Kung-wai, now environment undersecretary, urged the city’s administration to be more proactive in tightening restrictions and to seek support from its mainland counterparts.
The city’s popular ship routes were partly to blame, because some vessels passed through Hong Kong waters on the way to twin ports in Shenzhen, the group said in its report.
“With so many ships berthing at the terminal in Kwai Chung, it’s like a small power plant,” said Simon Ng Ka-wing, Civic Exchange’s head of transport and sustainability research.
According to the Civic Exchange report, jointly issued with the University of Science and Technology and the University of Hong Kong, the city saw 385 of the 519 deaths directly related to sulphur dioxide from ship emissions in the region. The number of deaths in the inner Pearl River Delta region was 93, while that in the outer region was 42.
Dr Lai Hak-kan, an HKU research assistant professor who contributed to the report, said the figures were probably an underestimate, as the researchers had not taken long-term health effects of sulphur dioxide into account. The chemical can cause cancer and diseases in heart and blood vessels.
Ng said emissions from ships, mainly containers, were harmful although they accounted for only 18 per cent of sulphur dioxide in the city’s air. As it was released at a lower level, it could reach the residential areas easily.
The think tank suggested the government seek support from the central government and apply to the International Maritime Organisation to set up an emission control area, which would require ships to switch to 0.1 per cent sulphur fuel when they are within 100 nautical miles of Hong Kong. It said such a move could reduce deaths related to sulphur dioxide by 91 per cent.
It also suggested the government make it compulsory that ships switch their fuel to 0.5 per cent sulphur at berth. This suggestion follows the Fair Winds Charter which saw 18 shipping lines agree to do so two years ago. The pact will end in December.
Roberto Giannetta, secretary of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association, said it would cost a shipping line US$2 million a year to switch from conventional bunker fuel to low-sulphur clean fuel. He said it was uncommon for ships in Hong Kong to use low-sulphur fuel because it was not available in the city.
Topics:
Environment
Ocean Pollution
Environmental impact of shipping
Source URL (retrieved on Sep 20th 2012, 5:27am): http://www.scmp.com/news/article/1040949/hk-suffers-most-deaths-region-ship-pollution