An application with real-time readings now displays vessel emissions for inspectors when vessels enter or leave the port of Rotterdam. The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management has installed an air quality sensor to this effect on Splitsingsdam at the Maas Entrance.
It is one of the additional measures ILT is taking to monitor sulphur dioxide emissions from shipping.
Stricter Regulations
Stricter regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) place significant restrictions on sulphur emissions from shipping. In protected areas, such as the North Sea, a maximum permitted sulphur level of 0.1 per cent has already been applied since 2015. As of 1 January 2020, sea-going vessels on the world’s oceans may only use fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 0.5 per cent. The current maximum is 3.5 per cent. High-sulphur fuel will only be permitted on vessels that have scrubbers – an installed filtration system – on board.
Relocated
The “sulphur sniffer” was originally installed at Hoek van Holland. It has now been relocated to the “Lage Licht” on Splitsingsdam in the centre of the approach channel, where it will have a much better reach. The previous location was too far away from the area in which the largest vessels enter the port.
Small Plane
ILT has also been using a small Belgian plane to monitor sulphur emissions since 2018. The Belgian coast guard has been monitoring shipping emissions using a small Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences plane for several years. A sensor extracts the air from beneath the plane to measure a vessel’s SO2 and CO2 emission concentrations. ILT is now also using this. Using the plane means that ILT can now also monitor vessels far out to sea.
Bunker Tanks Checks
In recent years, ILT has observed that approximately 95 per cent of vessels arriving in Rotterdam comply with the sulphur regulations. In addition to the standard inspections in the Port of Rotterdam, ILT will also be sampling sea-going vessels’ so-called bunker tanks from 2020. From that point, vessels without scrubbers may no longer have fuel containing sulphur levels higher than 0.5 per cent in their tanks.
Picture: The air quality sensor at Splitsingsdam, Rotterdam (by ILT).
