At current fuel sulfur levels, pollutant emissions from ships in part of the Arctic region could increase 150 to 600 percent by 2025, according to a report from the International Council of Clean Transportation.
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, slid to an all-time low on Monday as sluggish cargo demand - especially from China - battered sentiment.
The International Chamber of Shipping says that the shipping and bunker refining industries should recognize that the global 0.5-percent sulfur-in-fuel cap, currently set to go into effect in 2025, may be implemented worldwide by 2020.
The window to sell Western fuel oil to Asia is starting to close as demand for a limited fleet of supertankers to store cheap crude pushes freight rates to multi-month highs, shipping and trade sources said.
Attacks against small tankers off South East Asia's coasts caused a rise in global ship hijackings, up to 21 in 2014 from 12 in 2013, despite piracy at sea falling to its lowest level in eight years, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed. Pirates took 442 crew members hostage, compared with 304 in 2013.
Despite ships being by far the most efficient form of transport, there is growing concern about climate change, the environmental state of the world's oceans and the air quality close to major shipping routes and ports which has led to ever more stringent legislation on emissions to both sea and air.
Asian liquefied natural gas prices are expected to fall by up to 30 percent in 2015, according to a survey of analysts and consultants, as the market enters a period of oversupply and the impact of lower oil prices kicks in.
Global oil and gas exploration projects worth more than $150bn are likely to be put on hold next year as plunging oil prices render them uneconomic, data shows, potentially curbing supplies by the end of the decade.
