[170915.EN.SEA] Containership Orders Soar to Escape UN's Costly Ship Emissions Mandate

ONE hundred and ninety containership orders, totalling 2.04 million TEU, have been made in the first nine months of 2015 - more than the full-year amount ordered in each of the last seven years, reports Alphaliner.

That's because orders must be placed before the implementation of the new IMO Tier III regulations on ship emissions. Ships with keels laid before January 1 are not required to face costly compliance mandates under the new UN regulations.

Specifically, the UN's International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Marine Pollution (Marpol) Annex VI Tier III requirements, are imposed on ships that are intended to sail within the US-Canadian Emission Control Areas (ECA).

The Tier III rules stipulate lower emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in Emission Control Areas (ECA), which could be extended later to other ECAs outside US and Canadian waters.

While the Tier II NOx emission limits, implemented universally for new ships in 2011, can be obtained through proper engine tuning, Tier III compliance requires more costly solutions.

The favoured solution appears to be a selective catalytic reduction reactor (SCR) installed in the vessels' exhaust gases flow, downstream of the turbo chargers.

Alternative methods are, however, also proposed. The SCR reactor and the ancillary equipment needed to bring NOx emissions down to Tier III levels will increase vessel prices by about two to five per cent depending on the size of the ship.

Vessel orders need to be firmed before the end of October if they are to meet the January 1 deadline, as yards need at least two to three months to prepare for the keels to be laid. This has led to a rush of new orders in the last few weeks.

Source : HKSG.