A Greek shipping company has received notice of 700,000 in fees because they had too high sulphur emissions in Norwegian fjords.
The ship MS Magellan, which is owned by the Greek shipping company Global Cruise Lines Ltd, according to the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, broke the regulations on sulphur-containing fuels in the world heritage fjords this spring.
From March 1, new environmental requirements were introduced for emissions to air and sea in the world heritage fjords of Nærøyfjord, Aurlandsfjorden, Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjorden and Tafjorden. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate has now issued its first notice of violation charges as a result of the new rules.
On April 16, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate received a report on the issue of smoke emissions from the Bahamas-registered cruise ship, Magellan, which was docked in Flåm.
The group report was followed up with onboard inspections when the ship arrived at Geiranger the next day. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s inspectors measured that the sulphur content of the ship’s fuel had an impact of 0.17%. The limit for legal sulphur content in the world heritage fjords is 0.10%.
‘’Our documentation shows that the ship had entered two world heritage sites with sulphur values that were above the legal level’’ said Bjørn Pedersen, department director for regulations and international work.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
