Finland mulls sulphur green fund as shippers demand compliance cost aid

FINLAND's Transport Minister Merja Kyllonen said allocating money to develop sulphur emissions-reducing technology would be a "major topic" in national budget talks this week, reports United Press International.

The government says compliance with the stringent European Union directives on sulphur emissions on the Baltic Sea will cost Finnish shipping industry and its customers up to US$750 million a year.

While the government considers spending money on developing green technologies, Finnish exporters, who failed to derail the EU sulphur directive, are now asking tax breaks to meet compliance costs.

Under the EU directive, after 2015 the fuel sulphur content for any ship plying the Baltic Sea must not exceed 0.10 per cent or its exhaust gas must be cleaned to that same level.

Ms Kyllonen favoured state funding in the development of clean technologies to help vessels reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulates.

Carriers can switch to costly low-sulphur fuel, or retrofit exhaust systems with filters known as wet scrubbers, or else fuel ships with liquefied natural gas.

Ms Kyllonen said Finland's new budget should provide money "targeted at building environmentally friendly vessels and retrofitting exhaust gas cleaning systems, in particular so-called wet scrubbers, on existing vessels."