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A $1.5 million assistance program funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will reimburse Maersk Line vessels for switching to lower-sulphur fuel, is scheduled to commence in August 2010.

19 Maersk Line vessels are expected to participate in the program, which will see the ships switching to lower-sulphur fuel containing no more than 0.2 percent sulphur once they are within 24 nautical miles of the Texas coast.

The fuel-switching program is due to run until March 31 2012.

The total emission reductions from the project are expected to be:

35 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx)

50 tons of particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10)

46 tons of particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5)

441 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)

1,353 tons of sulphur dioxide (SO2)

The Port of Houston Authority and Maersk Line partnered with the EPA on the first-ever low-sulphur fuel switch demonstration on a container ship in the Gulf of Mexico last November.

The fuel switching demonstration was carried out on the Maersk Roubaix [pictured], a smaller vessel which can carry 1118 twenty-foot shipping containers. It is typical of the container ships that routinely operate between the U.S. and Mexico.

The Roubaix’s propulsion engine and auxiliary engines normally run on bunker fuel with a sulphur content of 2.7 percent.

The fuel-switching project was approved by the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority during a meeting on April 27th 2010, which authorized use of nearly $1.5 million from EPA's National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance program to reimburse Maersk Line for use of cleaner fuel.

Commissioners approved using $1,497,909 of EPA's National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program funds to reimburse Maersk Line for the differential cost of lower emissions fuel on the shipping line's vessels calling at Port Authority wharves.

The National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program was set up to support the implementation of verified and certified diesel emission reduction technologies.

Funded projects are required to achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions, particularly from fleets operating in areas designated as having poor air quality.

While fuel switching is prevalent along the West Coast, this project will be the first of its kind in the U.S. Gulf and specifically involving the Port of Houston Authority. The program is also the latest initiative launched under the port authority’s Clean Air Strategy Plan (CASP), an outreach and implementation plan demonstrating the port authority’s commitment to environmental stewardship, air quality improvements, and sustainability.

“This project is a win-win,” said Charlie Jenkins, port authority vice president of strategic planning. “It’s a good program with one of our business partners, and is yet another example of the Port of Houston Authority charting the course in preparation for the new Emission Control Area approved by the International Maritime Organization. We’re building business partnerships and helping the environment at the same time.”

The fuel-switching program will be in place prior to implementation of the North American Emission Control Area (ECA), an effort which the Port of Houston Authority has supported.

On March 26, the IMO officially designated waters off North American coasts as an area in which stringent international emission standards will apply to all ships.

Starting in August 2012, the ECA will require that the sulphur content in fuel be no greater than 1.0 percent. By 2015, all ships operating in the designated ECA will be required to use 0.1 percent sulphur marine fuels.