IMO 2020 Fuel Standards – Rapidly Approaching
Our industry is complex enough at the best of times but as we approach one of the most critical deadlines ever set by the IMO, minds are focused as never before on how best to respond.
So, what is the issue? A decision was taken by the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its 70th session in October 2016 to implement a global sulphur limit of 0.5% on approximately 50,000 ships worldwide effective January 1, 2020. This obviously represents a significant reduction from the current allowable global sulphur limit of 3.5%.
Nickel Ore Liquefaction – Another Tragic Episode
Indonesia’s maritime authorities this week reported that a lifeboat belonging to the missing national flagged bulk carrier Nur Allya has been found near that country’s Obi Islands. An oily sheen was also reported to have been sighted nearby. The 52,400dwt, LOA 189m vessel last made contact with her owners, PT Gurita Lintas Samudra, on August 20, 2019, with a distress call made from a position near Buru Island while on a domestic coastal voyage from Gebe Island to Indonesia's Sulawesi province carrying nickel ore.