Norway Considers Scrubber Ban in Heritage Fjords

Proposed new legislation intended to reduce emissions and discharges from ships sailing in Norway's world heritage fjords is now expected to be even stricter than first proposed earlier this year, including a ban on scrubber use.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has proposed the amendments relating to the Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjord, Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjord and Tafjord, and interested parties have six weeks to submit comments.

The original proposal included, among other things, stricter sulfur requirements for the entire area, stricter requirements for NOx emissions, prohibition against the discharge of sewage, regulations on the use of exhaust gas cleaning systems and requirement for an environmental instruction.

Based on comments received, the NMA is now proposing that fuel being used on ships in the world heritage fjords must have a sulfur content of maximum 0.10 percent by weight. Additionally, a prohibition against the use of exhaust gas cleaning systems in these areas is being proposed, including both open, closed and hybrid scrubber systems.

In practice, this means that the use of heavy fuel oil in the world heritage fjords will be banned, and that ships that currently use heavy fuel oil combined with an exhaust gas cleaning system will have to use marine diesel instead when sailing in the world heritage fjords.

“Experience shows that today’s cleaning systems emit visible smoke emissions, and some systems also generate discharges to sea. Even if the visible smoke is partly water vapor, it has a negative impact on people’s experiences of our world heritage fjords,” says Bjørn Pedersen, Head of Department of Legislation and International Relations at the NMA. 

The NMA is also proposing a prohibition against incineration of waste on board ships in the world heritage fjords, which will contribute to reducing the visible smoke emissions.

“We have a particular responsibility for taking care of the fjords inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List,” says Pedersen. The new proposal also lays down the possibility of exemption from the Tier I NOx requirements to be met by 2020 for ships that can document that they will satisfy the strictest NOx requirements (Tier III) by 2022, i.e. three years before the deadline.

“The Government wishes to reduce the emissions and discharges from cruise ships. Stricter requirements for ships in the world heritage fjords would be a step in the right direction,” says Minister of Climate and Environment, Ola Elvestuen.