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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is pushing ahead with amendments to Regulation 14 of MARPOL Annex VI prohibiting the carriage of bunker fuel with a sulphur content above 0.5 percent from March 2020 after a proposal to delay the ban was quashed on Tuesday.

During the second day of the IMO's 73rd Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting (MEPC 73), a member state - understood to be Bangladesh - proposed a deferment of the carriage ban, citing issues such as safety and price; however, the country was unable to gain sufficient support, so the ban is now set to enter into force in just over 16 months' time.

Earlier this year, the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) co-sponsored a submission to MEPC 72 with the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), to slightly modify the regulatory text to make sure that it did not unintentionally prevent bunker barges from carrying high-sulphur bunker fuel for delivery to ships fitted with scrubbers.

The text eventually agreed was: "The sulphur content of fuel oil used or carried for use on board a ship shall not exceed 0.50% m/m."

And for Emission Control Areas (ECAs), where the 0.1 percent sulphur limit is applicable, the amended regulatory text, under Regulation 14.4, reads: "While a ship is operating within an emission control area, the sulphur content of fuel oil used on board that ship shall not exceed 0.10% m/m."