IMO 2020 Fuel Legislation
IMO 2020 Fuel Legislation: Update
From 1st January, 2020, a global regulation will come into force changing the type of fuel all shipping lines must use.
The aim of the regulation is to reduce air pollution from ships. Whereas today ships can use fuel with up to 3.5% sulphur content, the new global sulphur cap will be 0.5%. Currently the cost of 0.5% sulphur fuel is higher than that of the present fuel used by the industry. This additional shipping cost will impact on fuel surcharges as from December 2019 as the ocean carriers begin to purchase this fuel in order to be compliant on 1st January 2020.