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Geneva-headquartered Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A (MSC) has announced that it will be implementing an Emission Control Area (ECA) charge from January 1, 2015.

The decision comes ahead of the introduction of new legislation that will require vessels operating in ECAs from January 1, 2015 to comply with a 0.10 percent sulphur limit on marine fuel. It means ships currently running on intermediate fuel oil (IFO) whilst operating in ECAs will need to switch to higher-priced marine gas oil (MGO) in order to ensure a reduction from 1.0 percent to 0.1 percent sulphur content. Alternatively, the exhaust gas must be cleaned with an exhaust gas cleaning system (or 'scrubber') to obtain an equivalent reduction.

Emission Control Areas (ECAs) are sea areas where strict controls have been established to minimize airborne emissions from ships as defined by Annex VI of the 1997 MARPOL Protocol, which originally came into effect in May 2005. New regulations are set to be implemented as part of a phased approach over the coming years, with the next phase due to come into effect at the beginning of 2015. By 2020, the global sulphur cap on marine fuel will be 0.5 percent.

Please find below MSC's ECA charges, effective from January 1, 2015.