#SamskipSulphur – Samskip CEO, Diederick Blom has said that new sulphur regulations will increase line's bunker bills by 50%, according to LloydsLoadingList.com
The CEO added the increasing costs of fuel resulting from new low-sulphur fuel regulations may drive a shift back to road transport on certain European shortsea routes.
Some operators had already closed services anticipating a modal shift in favour of road transport when new rules come into force in January, although he felt this would be a short-term development. "Longer term we expect transport by sea and rail will increase and by more than road," he said.
"The European white paper on transportation says that one third of road traffic that travels more than 300 km will have to be off the road by 2030 and in total 50% will need to be off the roads by 2050. So the European Commission will have to make road transport less efficient than it is today in an attempt to support transportation by sea and by rail."
Samskip is expecting its fuel costs to increase by 50% as a result of the new sulphur regulations that will force it to switch to more expensive marine gas oil.
Blom said that most of the carrier's shortsea operations are conducted in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel and North America.
These emission-control areas will be subject to a 0.1% sulphur limit from January 1, 2015, up from the current 1% limit. For more on the impact of sulphur regulations, click HERE.
In July of this year, Samskip Multimodal announced a new part-load service between Italy and Ireland.
