California became one of the first places to rigorously regulate the sulphur content of marine fuels used in its ports and up to 24 nm off its shores. Being a pioneer in the field of the mandated use of 0.10 % sulphur content fuel as of January 2014, a lot can be learned from the Californian experience. The Association is grateful to Messrs. Keesal Young & Logan and Senior Surveys LLC for contributing to this update. Prepared with the assistance of Angad Dhaliwal, Intern at Skuld Singapore. The development The upcoming further development of the North American Emission Control Area (ECA), pursuant to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), will bring about even stricter controls on sulphur emissions by vessels operating along the North American coast. The new regulations, requiring the use of a maximum of 1% sulphur content fuel, became mandatory as of 1 January 2014. Under the new MARPOL Annex VI regulations this limit will be lowered to 0.10% as of 1 January, 2015. There is, however, one significant place where such strict standards have already been in force for some time, and that is California. Californian experience The State of California has been managing the content of sulphur in marine fuels since 2009 and as of 1 January 2014 the permissible sulphur content was lowered to 0.10%. The responsible authority is the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and it must be remembered that in the US there can be local state legislation which is more stringent than equivalent federal legislation. Furthermore each state is free to pass its own laws leading to a situation where significantly different rules may apply between federal to state, and state to state. One particularly noteworthy development, possibly consequent on this regulatory change, is the increase in the number of vessels suffering from loss of propulsion off the Californian coast. In many of these incidents it is suspected that the switch over from hot res