Shipping's waterline deadline

The clock is ticking for an industry that must conform with new sulphur rules. Not everyone will be ready in time

Major infrastructural and organisation challenges confront the oil and shipping markets in the run-up to the 2020 International Maritime Organization (IMO) deadline for the introduction of an 0.5% sulphur content cap on marine fuels. It will affect the way oil refiners and traders; the bunkering industry; and the shipping industry do business. "Nobody really knows how it's going to play out," says Andrew Laven, regional manager for Middle East and Africa at the Bomin Group, a bunkering company with operations worldwide. Adrian Tolson, Senior Partner at 20/20 Marine Energy, a consultancy which advises the shipping and bunkering industry and governmental bodies, adds that "a lot of things have