Engines are cutting out and ships are drifting, leading to danger of a serious accident
Perhaps California should be re-named the Clean Air State, because of the relentless quest to cut down on pollution, but in one respect at least the state government stands accused of going too far.
The Coast Guard and international shipping lines are becoming seriously alarmed at the number of ships suffering loss of power after switching to low sulfur fuel. The state thumbed its nose at federal and international rules by ordering all ships (with a few special exceptions) from July to use a maximum of 1.5 percent marine gas oil (or 0.5 percent marine diesel oil) within 24 nautical miles of the coast. From January 2012 the limit for both types of fuel goes down to 0.1 percent.
According to the Coast Guard, six ships suffered complete loss of power in July, out of 720 arrivals, compared with 11 out of 8,600 arrivals in the nine months before that. Even more worrying, San Francisco Bar Pilots say they have seen an incident every one to three days, some involving engine starts while at berth, due to insufficient air pressure or
lack of fuel suction, leading to delays of a couple of hours.
"Two vessels had to be towed after losing propulsion; one was approaching the BayBridge, the other along the San Francisco waterfront," (emphasis added) said a report at a meeting on the issue. (No great feat of imagination is needed on possible outcomes.)
The Coast Guard says it is "concerned with increases in risk for collision allision or grounding of ships transiting along the California coast or to/from one of the state's ports."
Apart from engines cutting out, oil seal leaks and boiler corrosion are being noted. Says a report by the Western States Petroleum Association, "If boilers are operated on distillate it could lead to an increased risk of furnace explosion."
Adapting equipment to cope with the low sulfur is, as always, expensive. Maersk spent $18 million to switch over. (Boilers cost $80,000 each to modify on an average vessel. Fuel cooling units for preserving viscosity cost $200, 000,)
The industry body representing shipping lines and terminal operators, the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, wants the Air Resources Board (responsible for the regulations) to waive the fines and fees for ships not using low sulfur. These range from $45,000 for the first port call to $225,000 for five or more calls.
Industry insiders say there is very little chance of the authorities agreeing. They reckon the shipping association is looking for any evidence to justify its opposition to the regulations from the beginning (mostly because it saw these problems arising) and because officialdom hates to be proved wrong.
Intervention by the Coast Guard is seen as the most likely action to prevent a major accident.