What’s the
connection, you say? It is the blatant disregard of the will of the people by
the political elites, not just the European Commission, but in case of bunkers,
also the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The British
elites and their Oxford cliques, including the Prime Minister (and his family) pushed
a flood of EU rules and regulations down the throat of British people while enriching
themselves by avoiding taxes and money laundering (according to the leaked Mossack-Fonseca Panama
papers). The British man-in-the-street
resented the perpetuation of the same Oxford-inbred clique and rejected the “more
of the same” recipe by voting to leave the EU.
Are the Brits
alone? No. France is making similar noises with the National Front and Marine
LePen, and even Francois Hollande mentioned Frexit, and then Holland, Denmark,…the dominoes are
clearly visible…
And then
there is the good old USA…where Mr. Trump and Bernie Sanders are riding high in
the middle class revolt against more of the same corrupt and dishonest political
elite that strangled the US since 1950’s …buying elections, increased taxes,
lip service, no job creation, treating war veterans like garbage, impoverishment of the middle class, etc.
The IMO, an agency of the UN, is
considering imposing a global 0.5% Sulfur spec for marine bunker fuel either in
2020 (IMO-preferred) or a bit later, 2025.
The global 0.5% Sulfur spec is being
set not by logical and rational techno-economic considerations, but by political considerations of
unelected members of IMO, driven by the same EU-centric bureaucrats paid by the
EU taxpayers, in the name of progress and environmental consciousness.
Damned
be the consequences! Higher consumer prices
for goods transported by ships, putting out of business ship owners with older
vessels, and more unemployment in the marine bunker fuel business. Just what the EU and the world needs...fewer jobs!
Just like the
Brexit, come 2020, many people outside EU and US ECA waters will avoid calling
at these ports, and completely ignore the IMO global specs by continuing use of
the cheapest high Sulfur bunker fuel possible. This will be the undoing of the
IMO.
Scrubbers as
abatement method to lower SOX emission work, but at $4 to $5 million a piece
plus maintenance headaches and costs are an expensive temporary “band-aid”.
A good solution is a combination of gradual
switch to 1%S fuel for a couple of years, perhaps switching to 0.5% S gasoil by
2025, and by increasing engine efficiency to burn less fuel.
Ara Barsamian
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ReplyDeleteIn this world, when nature has given different forms of Energy, we should use all the forms in a balanced way without using any form in excess so that the balance is not disturbed. In this world, when nature has given different forms of Energy, we should use all the forms in a balanced way without using any form in excess so that the balance is not disturbed.
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