---

The Danish Ministry of Environment and Food has confirmed that a total of five shipping firms have been reported to the police in order to investigate allegations of fuel sulphur content violations, local media sources report.

The Ministry, which is the Danish agency tasked with monitoring and restricting the regulation of emissions and whose Minister is Esben Lunde Larsen [pictured], appears to be taking the allegations very seriously as since January 2015, MARPOL ECA requirements for the Baltic and North Seas have restricted sulphur levels in marine fuels for ships operating in the region.

Since the new regulations came into effect, the Danish Maritime Authority has stepped up its inspection programmes, which has resulted in the identification of the five as yet unnamed firms that are alleged not be in compliance with the sulphur content rules.

The figures are based on 200 samples of fuel extracted from ships in Danish ports, where some of the firms operating the vessels tested were reportedly burning fuel with a sulphur content that was between twenty percent to as much as nine times above the currently allowed limit.

Denmark currently also operates an 'air sniffer' that detects sulphur oxide (SOx) levels in exhaust plumes, with one of the devices fitted to a small aeroplane and the other, to the Great Belt Bridge. It is now the job of the police to decide whether charges will be brought.

With both the likelihood of being caught and the fact that fines are rather modest in the E.U., some have warned that there is a financial incentive to cheat rather than adhering to the new requirements. This is in direct contrast to the United States where penalties for breaching Emission Control Area (ECA) sulphur rules are extremely costly.

Minister Esben Lunde Larsen commented on the situation, saying: "Control and enforcement sulphur regulations is important - both for our health, for the environment and to avoid unequal competition for law-abiding companies. The economic gain of cheating is great."

Image: Esben Lunde Larsen