German ship emission monitoring network
Remote emission measurements to
support MARPOL Annex VI compliance
monitoring
Environmental aspects of ship emissions, regulations and enforcement
In order to reduce air pollution in the maritime atmosphere, ships must use low-sulfur fuel oils or exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubber) when sailing in designated Emission Control Areas (ECA) like the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The allowed maximum fuel sulfur content (FSC) is 0.10% S m/m inside ECAs and 0.50% S m/m outside ECAs (MARPOL Annex VI regulations). Additionally, ships have to comply with certain nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission thresholds (TIER I to III). This causes increased operational costs for ships. Ships are inspected to comply to the emission regulations by onboard MARPOL Annex VI inspections when in port. In case of a violation, the responsible person(s) on board will be fined by the administration.
Remote measurements of ship exhaust plumes to support MARPOL Annex VI compliance monitoring
Onboard MARPOL Annex VI inspections are time consuming and therefore costly for all participants.
Hence, only a selection of calling ships is inspected in ports. To increase the number of monitored ships without increasing the number of onboard inspections, in Germany and certain other countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland remote measurements are carried out to preselect ships for onboard inspection (targeting mechanism). The chemical composition of the exhaust plume of passing ships is measured by fixed, mobile or airborne measurement stations along frequented shipping lanes. Therefrom derived SO2 and NOx emission factors indicate compliance or violation according to MARPOL
Annex VI. Measured plumes are allocated to individual ships by using meteorological data and the ships’ AIS signal (ships’ identity and current position). In case of a suspected threshold violation, measurement results are reported to the responsible authority to trigger an onboard inspection. Measurement, data analysis and reporting is carried out automatically on a 24/7 basis.
If not all quality criteria are met, a trained operator checks the measurement and allocation manually before reporting to authorities. Remote measurement results might be reported to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) database “THETIS-EU” as well.
German ship emission monitoring stations
The BSH operates three fixed measurement stations in Wedel (Hamburg approach), Bremerhaven and Kiel (Kiel and Kiel Canal approach). Moreover, a mobile land-based measurement station is placed for temporal intervals at different locations at the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coast. Furthermore, the BSH research vessel ATAIR is equipped with a sensor system to monitor ship emissions in German waters.
Wedel Bremerhaven
Mobile Measurement Station (onshore)
R/V ATAIR (offshore measurements)
Kiel
BSH Hamburg
Bernhard-Nocht-Str. 78 · 20359 Hamburg · Germany Phone: +49 40 3190-0
M31_008 Issued 09/21
