To All Shippers,

The IMO (International Maritime Organization), is a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The IMO is the global standard-setting authority for the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping.  As part of its responsibility it has regulated that all ships operating in international waters must significantly reduce their sulphur oxide emissions.

This ruling comes into effect as of the 1^st January 2020.

Please see below link to IMO website, further explaining sulphur oxide emissions and changes required to comply.

http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Sulphur-2020.aspx

Our ship, the “Borkum” currently uses IFO (Intermediate Fuel Oil) which is a blend of gasoil and heavy fuel oil.  As a result of the above new regulations, the ship cannot continue to use IFO and must now convert to using MGO (Marine Gas Oil).  MGO is a cleaner fuel with significantly less sulphur oxide emissions than IFO, and complies with the new regulations.

The cost of MGO is also considerably higher than IFO.  As a result fuel costs to operate the ship will increase.  Unfortunately this increase in fuel costs will have to be passed on to consumers.

We are in the process of calculating what effect the above will have on shipping costs.

Once it has been determined, we will distribute another broadcast and list a notice on our website.  These increases will take effect from the first voyage in 2020, that is BK2001.

Please keep an eye out on our website for future notices.

Also please note that our website is updated every Monday morning with the revised sailing schedule as well as any other important information that needs to be published.  Please check regularly  to make sure you dont miss out on anything.