IKEA has called on shipping lines carrying its goods to comply with new IMO sulphur regulations or lose its business with the furniture retailer.
Scott Hemphill, global sustainability developer at IKEA, told TradeWinds that if a shipping line is found not to be compliant with this legislation, this would represent “a material breach of terms and conditions resulting in business consequences up until termination.”
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has decided to implement a global sulphur limit of 0.5% for vessels in 2020.
It represents a significant cut from the current limit of 3.5%.
Hemphill said IKEA supports the IMO legislation and also has its own standard minimum requirements for environment conditions, called IWAY.
“All shipping lines transporting IKEA goods have committed to complying with the IWAY process and adherence to the IMO sulphur content regulations for marine heavy fuel oil (HFO) by 2020 is part of our existing agreements already,” Hemphill added.
But IKEA clarified that it will be up to port authorities and coast guards to monitor the compliance with 2020 regulations.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it is introducing a new sniffer system to monitor compliance for passing ships.
IKEA is also part of the Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) and said that no shipping line from CCWG has indicated it would not comply with the IMO legislation.
Hemphill said: “We are currently in the process of evaluating potential impacts of the future IMO regulation on sulphur to see how this may affect future freight rates.
“At this stage we have not drawn any firm conclusions and cannot provide any further information on this topic.”
