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Maersk Line recorded two incidents of sulphur non-compliance in 2017, A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) has confirmed.

In the group's '2017 Sustainability Report', released on Friday, Maersk notes that the incidents took place in Emission Control Areas (ECAs) where a 0.1 percent cap on the sulphur content of fuel is already being enforced.

The first non-compliance was determined on a Maersk Line vessel calling at Long Beach, California, in March 2017, with the sulphur content at nearly 0.2 percent in an area where the sulphur limit is 0.1 percent.

According to Maersk, an internal investigation confirmed that the vessel carried compliant fuel, and that the contamination was due to human error in the switchover procedure.

In July 2017, a Maersk Line vessel in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, was deemed to be in breach of the area's fuel sulphur limit of 0.1 percent.

Maersk says an internal investigation found that the vessel's low-sulphur fuel tank had been contaminated due to human error in operating two butterfly valves between the ship's high-sulphur and low-sulphur fuel tanks.

The contamination is said to have raised the sulphur level in the low-sulphur fuel tank to around 0.2 percent.

"We carried out a complete cleaning of the low-sulphur tanks and the onboard systems. [We] have implemented specific procedures to avoid this kind of contamination on all relevant vessels," Maersk explained.

According to the report, Maersk Line makes more than 50,000 port calls on an annual basis, which means approximately 0.004 percent (or less) of the calls resulted in non-compliance being determined.

Maersk also stressed that it had gained "no financial benefits from the two incidents".