This move was made in order to more quickly and efficiently support clients with the IMO’s upcoming sulphur cap, which will be globally enforced starting 1st January, 2020.
In light of the increasingly strengthening SOx regulation, until now ClassNK had already been providing not only appropriate plan approvals/site surveys and information on international/regional regulations, but also carrying out various other initiatives to provide clients with compliant support to the new regulation.
In addition to the release of the ‘Guidance for on board use of Compliant Fuel Oil with SOx regulation from 2020’, which outlines potential risks and mitigation measures involved with compliant fuel oil, and the ‘Guidelines for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems’, which include requirement explanations for SOx scrubbers, ClassNK has also provided a sample ‘Ship Implementation Plan (SIP)’ recommended by the IMO for switching to compliant fuel oil now that global enforcement is within sight, and many appraisal services for SIPs and fuel oil tank cleaning etc.
Future issues and damage involving machinery with the use of compliant fuels and new situations regarding Port State Control (PSC) inspections are expected. As the SOx regulation involves various fields, ClassNK reorganised its structure by integrating its point of contacts to provide faster and more efficient support to clients.