Maersk in fully compliant to clean fuel law
SHIPPING: All vessels within 200 nautical miles of North America have started using low sulphur fuel since 1 August 2012. This requires 96 of Maersk Line’s vessels to carry the new fuel type.
“We have committed to our customers and the governments to be the environmental leader in shipping. It also demonstrates our values of constant care and uprightness,” she says Lee Kindberg, director for Environment & Sustainability.
However, complying does not come without any costs. In fact, having low sulphur fuel is 15% more expensive than the regular bunker fuel.
“How we manage this definitely impacts our cost competitiveness, our pricing structure, and potentially our network design & management. For example, vessels must be able to carry multiple fuels, and redeployed vessels must be managed to ensure they have the fuel before they arrive in North America for the first time”, Lee says.
The required fuel is only available in a few ports around the world – even many US and Canadian ports don’t have it yet. Vessels on services that called those ports had to acquire the fuel in Asia or Northern Europe.
Some services only had one port with fuel available, so advance planning was essential.
Fuel cost and delivery efficiency also vary considerably - planning and teamwork with Marine and Maersk Oil Trading are essential to keep costs down and to minimize impact on vessel schedules and operations.
Vessel redeployments must be managed - new vessels must have the fuel before the first call in North America – either as a regularly scheduled vessel or even for a single call.
Vessels calling California must carry and manage three fuels: regular bunker, the ECA fuel, and the Marine Gas Oil required in California waters.
Source: Maersk Line
