Steve Bee, Group Marketing and Strategic Projects Director, and Emilian Buksak, Decarbonisation Advisor of marine fuels testing company VPS, on Wednesday (8 April) highlighted MEPC 84 approved a new emission control area (ECA) covering the North-East Atlantic Ocean, with agreements reached on adopted amendments to MARPOL Annex VI. The new ECA, which will become the world’s largest emission control area, will be implemented on 1st September 2027 In a recent article, VPS outlined how VPS testing, data, CEM systems and advisory services can support vessels in both their operational and compliance challenges associated with this new ECA: The recent International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO), Maritime Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting in London, had its main focus on setting binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the global shipping sector. In keeping with the Committee’s continuing drive to decarbonise shipping and reduce the pollutant emissions from the global fleet, one major outcome from the MEPC-84 meeting was the approval of a new emission control area (ECA) covering the North East Atlantic Ocean, with agreements reached on adopted amendments to MARPOL Annex VI. This new ECA, which will become the world’s largest emission control area, will be implemented on 1st September 2027, with the ECA requirements taking effect on 1st September 2028. It will cover the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal, extending up to 200 nautical miles from their baselines: A key advantage of the new NE Atlantic ECA is that it will close the gap between the existing ECAs in the North and Baltic Sea, plus the Mediterranean, creating an almost continuous zone of reduced shipping emissions. It will also connect to the newly approved ECAs in the Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea, which are scheduled for implementation in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Togethe