Responding to reports that the Liberian-flagged container vessel Dubai Tower has departed the Chinese port city of Ningbo in an attempt to cross the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic,  and news that South Korea’s PanStar has purchased a ship for an imminent Arctic crossing, Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance said:

“The Clean Arctic Alliance is seriously concerned about the interest in the Northern Sea Route as a regular trade route and the consequences for the Arctic, Indigenous communities and wildlife. Increased commercial shipping activity will lead to increased climate impacts, increased pollution and increased loss of biodiversity.”

“Emissions of black carbon – a potent short-lived climate forcer which results from burning fossil maritime fuels – will result in further climate heating and speed up the melting and loss of both sea ice and land-ice when it settles out of the atmosphere.”

“When black carbon falls on sea ice, it hastens the melting of the sea ice which is a crucial part of the natural climate cycle. Arctic sea ice acts as the planet’s refrigerator, controlling the planet’s temperature. Arctic sea ice extent is currently at the eight lowest on record, with still a month to go before the Autumn equinox.“

“Using LNG to power shipping is not a suitable alternative fuel due to emissions of methane associated with its whole life-cycle. Methane is also a very potent short-lived climate forcer which is driving global heating. Other sources of ship pollution such as oil and wastewater discharges and increased underwater noise will undermine overall Arctic ocean health and also impact Arctic Indigenous communities who depend on Arctic resources for food.”

“It is imperative that any shipping seeking to use the Arctic as a route from Asia to Europe or vice versa, strictly follows the international regulations and guidance agreed by the International Maritime Organization, including calls for ships to use cleaner distillate fuels or alternative fuels with lower black carbon emissions while in the Arctic, and to measure and report their black carbon emissions.”

According to media reports, the Dubai Tower, operated by Chinese company Sea Legend is expected in the port of Felixstowe in the United Kingdom on September 7, followed by stops in Hamburg, Germany and Gdynia, Poland.

How the IMO can address pollution in the Arctic:
“Recent IMO regulations to reduce the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic and designation of the Northeast Atlantic Emission Control Area (ECA) adopted by the IMO on May 1st this year are welcome steps towards reducing risks of oil spills and emissions of air pollutants SOx and NOx, but will not adequately address black carbon emissions which lead to climate heating in the Arctic”, said Dr Prior. “This is because ships can still use traditional heavy fuel oils in the wider Arctic beyond the area covered by the Arctic HFO ban and in ECAs in combination with scrubbers or use ultra low sulphur fuel oils to comply with the sulphur requirements. Both these regulations will not reduce black carbon emissions to the same low levels that using polar fuels can do.”

A proposal on polar fuels, co-sponsored by Denmark, Germany, France and the Solomon Islands is currently on the table at the International Maritime Organization.

“The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on other Arctic countries to support Denmark in the creation of this new regulation requiring the use of cleaner maritime fuels in order to protect the Arctic”, added Prior. “It is important that the regulation is applied within the area used as the basis of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) by the Arctic Council – in order to maintain a level playing field across the whole Arctic since black carbon emissions can be transported hundreds to thousands of kilometres in the atmosphere and when emitted further south can still settle on to Arctic snow and ice.”

A polar fuel standard would fill an important gap in the IMO’s current regulatory framework, by directly targeting black carbon emissions from ships. This polar fuel measure would require the use of cleaner distillate fuels such as marine gas oil (MGO) and new zero carbon fuels which are beginning to enter the market. It would prevent the use of ultra-low sulphur fuel oils (ULSFOs), or heavy residual fuel oils (HFOs) with scrubbers, which would still be able to be used under an ECA designation. The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on Arctic and other states to support the measure.