Roué (Brittany Ferries): it urges delay in the law enforcement EU on the sulfur tenor in fuel for the ships



It is "a heresy" to limit the sulfur emissions produced from the ships as tax from the EU, as a result of a specific decision assumed in 2008 from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with an adopted European directive in the 2012 that of it previews a drastic reduction ( of the September 11 2012). It has emphasized the president of the company of navigation Brittany Ferries, Jean-Marc Roué, participating to an organized seminary from the Conference of Marine Peripheral Regions (CRPM) on invitation of the Region North de Calais that has held slid friday to Dunkerque.

"The norm - Roué has explained - is famous from 2008, but the plan of investments for the ships covers a temporal arc 25-30-year-old. Currently - it has evidenced - the shipowners can comply to this directive for the new ships, but for the old ships a delay is necessary if we want to avoid an economic catastrophe".

Also second the CRPM is favorable a delay. In the course of the debate all the representatives of the marine regions that have participated to the seminary have agreed with the fixed principles and objectives in center IMO and EU in order to safeguard the human health and the atmosphere and in order to return still more "green" the marine transport. However in the final declaration, in which the shipowners and the parts interested in their efforts of adaptation explain "to have intentional to contribute to a better performance than such dispositions supporting", the representatives of the marine regions have specified that the period of adaptation previewed from the directive is considered "very short" by the CRPM and have invited therefore the Member States, the EU commission and the IMO to a greater flexibility in its performance.

"The performance of this directive - Wulfran Despicht has declared, vice president for the Sea of the Region North de Calais - can generate economic and industrial opportunities for the regions. Nevertheless I wonder if the several economic subjects are returned sufficiently aware of problematic the relative ones to the performance of the directive and, above all, if the investment can be financed after 2015 and from who".

From part its Elena Visnar Malinovska, member of cabinet of the European commissioner for the Atmosphere, Janez Potocnik, has specified "commissioner Potocnik is very aware of the difficulties, so as of the demand for a greater flexibility", and that "the Commission intends to support the Regions in the performance of this directive". However - he has added - he does not go forgotten that "58% of the population of the EU are exposed to a greater level of sulfur dioxide (SO2) of that previewed from the World Health Organization and that 21% of the city population are exposed to a level of particulate matter that exceeds the fixed limits from the EU".

The EU commission has exhorted the Regions to cooperate and to assume initiatives before the adoption of the new programming financial institution of the EU for period 2014-2020. The Commission has found that the financings for the ports (included those for the realization of stations of which combustible which liquified natural gas refueling for the ships) could be supported from the European Fund for Regional Development (FESR) and from regional aids of State for the atmosphere and the shipbuilding, let alone from aids of Been about to the innovative financings previewed from the new program picture for research purposes HORIZON 2020. "You invitation - it has sped up Jean-Eric Paquet, director of the Head office of Mobility and the Transports of the EU commission - to share your plans and your strategies with we and to continue our arguments in the picture of the marine European Forum for the sustainable transport that we are constituting".

Manifesting appreciation for the constitution of the Forum, the general secretary of the CRPM, Eleni Marianou, it has observed that until now "the Regions sufficiently are not involved in the performance of European politics for transport marine".