North Sea Seca Now In Force

Reminder to vessels calling North Sea ports:

Rules restricting the sulphur content of fuel used by ships operating in the North Sea came into force in late 2007. There is now a 1.5 percent cap on the sulphur content of bunkers within the North Sea SOx Emission Control Area (Seca). Alternatively, ships must fit an exhaust gas cleaning system, commonly known as a "scrubber". At present scrubber technology is still in the development stage so most ships are switching from high sulphur fuel to more expensive low sulphur fuel as they enter the Seca. Port state control inspectors are able to check whether ships are burning fuel that complies with the regulations.