IMO: Heavy fuel oil banned for Arctic shipping from July 1, 2024

Recently, the IMO held the seventh session of the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response in the Arctic (PPR7), which adopted a "prohibition on the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in Arctic shipping from July 1, 2024". Draft regulations.

It is reported that the draft will be finally reviewed and approved at the IMO EMPC 76 meeting this fall.

In response to this Arctic Shipping "oil ban," several exemptions were made, allowing non-compliance with the ban:

First, rescue vessels engaged in search and rescue or handling oil spill accidents can be exempted;

The second is that countries and regions that do not have other railways and highways to support domestic logistics and transportation, such as Russia. The IMO has specifically given that Russian ships sailing between Murmansk and Tiksi ports will be exempted.

Most maritime navigation in the Arctic is carried out in Russia's waters, so the ban will cause Russia to bear greater economic losses than other Arctic coastal countries. As a country in the Far East, there is almost no road or rail connection in the rest of the country. Every year along Russia's North Sea route, there are a series of domestic routes called "Northern Supply" to deliver goods to coastal cities and businesses.

Therefore, at the meeting, the Russian delegation expressed greater concern about the economic burden caused by the ban on the use of HFO. The Russian side stated that the ban would further affect the lives and economic operations of Arctic coastal countries and regions. Pay more for your own goods.