Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10087-10092, 2015 
www. atmos-chem-phys .net/15/10087/2015/ 
doi:10.5194/acp-15-10087-2015 
© Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. 
Atmospheric f 
Chemistry | 
and Physics % 
Monitoring compliance with sulfur content regulations of shipping 
fuel by in situ measurements of ship emissions 
L. Kattner 1 2 , B. Mathieu-Uffing 1 2 , J. P. Burrows 1 , A. Richter 1 , S. Schmolke 2 , A. Seyler 1 , and F. Wittrock 1 
institute for Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Germany 
2 Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Hamburg, Germany 
Correspondence to: L. Kattner (lisa.kattner@bsh.de) 
Received: 12 March 2015 - Published in Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.: 15 April 2015 
Revised: 3 August 2015 - Accepted: 13 August 2015 - Published: 9 September 2015 
Abstract. In 1997 the International Maritime Organisation 
(IMO) adopted MARPOL Annex VI to prevent air pollution 
by shipping emissions. It regulates, among other issues, the 
sulfur content in shipping fuels, which is transformed into the 
air pollutant sulfur dioxide (SO2) during combustion. Within 
designated Sulfur Emission Control Areas (SECA), the sul 
fur content was limited to 1 %, and on 1 January 2015, this 
limit was further reduced to 0.1 %. Here we present the set-up 
and measurement results of a permanent ship emission mon 
itoring site near Hamburg harbour in the North Sea SECA. 
Trace gas measurements are conducted with in situ instru 
ments and a data set from September 2014 to January 2015 
is presented. By combining measurements of carbon diox 
ide (CO2) and SO2 with ship position data, it is possible to 
deduce the sulfur fuel content of individual ships passing the 
measurement station, thus facilitating the monitoring of com 
pliance of ships with the IMO regulations. While compliance 
is almost 100 % for the 2014 data, it decreases only very little 
in 2015 to 95.4% despite the much stricter limit. We anal 
ysed more than 1400 ship plumes in total and for months 
with favourable conditions, up to 40 % of all ships entering 
and leaving Hamburg harbour could be checked for their sul 
fur fuel content. 
1 Introduction 
Shipping is a major part of the global transportation sector 
and its importance is still growing. According to the United 
Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Review of 
Maritime Transport, in 2013 a total of 9.6 billion tons were 
transported via ships. This corresponds to a growth rate of 
this sector of 3.8 % per year (UNCTAD, 2014). Despite being 
the most efficient and least emitting mode of transportation 
per ton of cargo compared to land-based or airborne trans 
port, shipping emissions nevertheless are a considerable frac 
tion of total anthropogenic emissions and have a significant 
impact on the air quality of coastal areas. 70 % of shipping 
emissions are produced within 400 km off the coasts (Corbett 
et ah, 1999) and can cause severe health and environmental 
problems to these regions (Corbett et ah, 2007; Eyring et ah, 
2010). 
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), an 
agency of the UN with 171 member states, has decided on 
measures to limit the impact of shipping emissions by adopt 
ing MARPOL Annex VI in 1997. One part of these mea 
sures, and on which this study focuses, is the reduction of 
sulfur in ship fuel in order to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) 
emissions. When oxidised, SO2 forms small sulfate particles, 
which have an effect on cloud properties and change their re 
flectivity and lifetime (Latter et ah, 2007). SO2 emissions by 
ships lead to an enhanced sulfate concentration of 10-50% 
in coastal areas (Matthias et ah, 2010), which increases acidi 
fication by acid rain (Endresen et. ah, 2003). Gaseous SO2 as 
well as sulfate particles have health effects on humans, when 
inhaled. SO2 is produced during the combustion process by 
burning sulfur that is contained in the fuel. Ship engines have 
been developed to be able to burn heavy fuel oils (HFO) that 
have a very high sulfur content of up to several percent and 
are basically a waste product of oil refineries and thus very 
cheap. 
The IMO regulations concerning sulfur content came into 
force in 2005 and were revised in 2008; the revision came 
into force in 2010. For all oceans worldwide, the sulfur con- 
Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.