IMO raises sulfur content limit to 0.53 percent

The slight fluctuations that appear when fuel is tested for sulfur content have now been included in new IMO regulations, which allow for a test deviation from the set 0.5 threshold to 0.53 percent. But it will not apply until 2022.

BY TOMAS KRISTIANSEN

Published: 23.11.20 at 13:55

When ship fuel is tested for sulfur content, it will in the future be permitted that the test shows 0.53 percent sulfur in heavy fuel oil, even though the limit set for the shipping companies is 0.5 percent.

This was the result of last week's meeting of the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee, MEPC, which raised the threshold by 0.03 percent to account for the fluctuations that can occur between various lab tests.