Revised regulation to reduce superyacht NOx emissions

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), an agency of the United Nations, announced that the revised IMO Tier III emission regulation will come into action from 1st January 2016. The 66th meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC66) agreed a revised course to regulate NOx emissions from shipping.

To summarise, the IMO Tier III, will mean severe reductions in NOx emissions, approximately a 74% decrease compared with Tier II, and applies to yachts traveling in North American NOx Emission Control Areas (NECA) and the United States Caribbean Sea NECA. When these yachts travel outside of NOx ECAs, IMO Tier II regulations remain. The IMO Tier III NOx regulation will be applicable to marine diesel engines installed on yachts constructed on or after 1st January 2016, when:
• Length over 24 metre
 • GT above 500
• Intended solely for recreational purposes (check with Flagstate)
• Engines over 130 kW & not intended for emergency applications From 1st of January 2021 all yachts above 24m and less than 500 GT travelling inside NOx ECAs also require compliance with IMO Tier III. IMO stated,

“The control of diesel engine NOx emissions is achieved through the survey and certification requirements leading to the issue of an Engine International Air Pollution Prevention (EIAPP) Certificate and the subsequent demonstration of in-service compliance in accordance with the requirements of the mandatory regulations 13.8 and 5.3.2.” 

When speaking to Yachting Pages, Peter van der Heijden, managing director from NPS Diesel and her brand Zenoro explained, “Legislations like these are trying to align all emission regulations worldwide. Many technologies already comply with PM (soot) and NOx regulations, and the marine industry has fallen behind, it is the last in the row.