World Maritime Day 2026: Turning emissions policy into enforced practice

This year's World Maritime Day theme, "From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence," marked on 24th September, speaks directly to a gap that has existed in shipping's pollution rules for years: the policies are clear, but enforcement is not. Closing that gap doesn't require more inspections, it requires direct, real-time emissions monitoring that ports and flag states can mandate without taking on the cost themselves.

Local emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM), such as black carbon (soot), affect the health of seafarers, passengers, port-side staff and nearby residents every day. According to the World Health Organization, these pollutants can exacerbate existing conditions like asthma, cause respiratory problems with long-term exposure linked to lung cancer, and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The International Maritime Organization's tiered NOx limits, the 2020 global Sulphur Cap of 0.5%, and eight more stringent regional Emission Control Areas (ECAs) – including the Mediterranean, Norwegian Sea, Canadian Arctic, Baltic, United States Caribbean Sea, North Sea, North America, and most recently the North-East Atlantic – constitute clear and well-established policies. Yet continues to be a lack of consistent compliance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

Today, the burden of local pollution compliance monitoring largely sits with ports and flag states. And the current approach to emissions testing can be time-consuming, ad hoc, and expensive. To test for sulphur levels, for example, a fuel sample needs to be taken by a surveyor, which is then sent to an independent lab. This process, which may cost several thousand dollars in total, can take 10 days to complete.

The problem is then if the sample is found to be non-compliant, the vessel has long since left the port where the sample was taken. And since ports are not in the business of arresting ships in other people's ports, there is often no recourse.

Other challenges to improved testing and compliance include managing vast amounts of real-time data and generating verifiable, audit-ready documentation. These complex processes currently require robust data management systems, which can be expensive too. All of this means regulators, ports and flag states face a lack of transparent data and are over-reliant on trust-based paperwork from shipowners.

In the EU alone, only 1,500 vessels were physically inspected for compliance with the 0.1% ECA sulphur limit in 2024, with trust-based documentation accepted for a further 8,500 ships, from approximately 2.2 million vessel port calls. With the EU's testing so limited, it's likely that there is insufficient data for it to accurately state an actual compliance rate. Inspections are also usually only conducted for vessels that have previously breached compliance.

Ports and flag states do not need to shoulder the cost and admin burden of compliance checks. They could easily mandate that vessels entering their port have an emissions monitoring technology installed onboard, which sends encrypted and real-time compliance data from ship directly to shore. This is highly unlikely to lose port authorities any business, yet it allows them to hold shipowners and operators more accountable for the local pollution that impacts the port and surrounding areas.

It is clear why regulators, ports and flag states should demand direct emissions monitoring. But shippers and charterers also have a need for more data on Scope 3 shipping emissions to meet their own emissions reduction targets, and to meet consumer expectations in terms of sustainable shipping. Similarly, funders need access to this emissions performance data to ensure current and prospective investments align with green financing aims.

But what about the shipowners and operators themselves? The impact depends on whether they are compliant. More consistent emissions monitoring helps to ensure non-compliant shipowners are not gaining any undeserved competitive advantage. For compliant ships, this data can also minimise the risk of paying penalties for assumed emissions, and direct reporting means there is a lower chance of off-hire time for compliance testing in ports.

Local pollution regulations require everyone to perform their role. Regulators can ensure compliance obligations under MARPOL Annex VI are upheld and that established legislation is effectively enforced. Ports and flag states can support enforcement without absorbing its cost and admin, by mandating direct emissions monitoring on vessels calling at their ports or flying their flag. For shipowners and operators, this monitoring can help reward compliance, punish non-compliance, and better inform funders and shippers. World Maritime Day 2026 asks the industry to move from policy to practice and on local pollution, that shift is overdue.