The real reason they’re pushing for lower sulphur emissions is due to bogus global warming pseudo science, not for health reasons. Just my opinion, but there you have it. So in implementing these draconian measures, people will loose their livelihood, but that matters not to the utopians, they’re on a mission you see, but it leads us back to the days of hunting and gathering, which will be heavily regulated as well.
Viking Line blames job cuts on air-pollution law
The Åland-based shipping company began redundancy talks on Monday, but has not specified how many people will get pink slips.
The shipping company Viking Line has begun redundancy talks with all of its 500 landside employees in Finland. The company has not specified how many jobs will be cut. The talks, which began on Monday, do not involve its shipboard employees or those in Sweden.
Viking Line says the biggest reason for the planned job cuts is a tougher air pollution law that takes effect next year. The company estimates that the EU’s Sulphur Directive will push its fuel costs up by 15 to 20 million euros annually.
The directive lists the Baltic Sea as a sulphur emission control area, where the maximum sulphur content of the fuels used by ships must be limited to 1.5 percent.
The line, which operates passenger ferry traffic between Finland, Sweden and Estonia, is based in the Åland Islands, a semi-autonomous Finnish province.
“We estimate that our fuel costs will rise by 15 to 20 million euros in 2015,” says Viking Line communications director Johanna Boijer-Svahnström. “Six of our seven vessels will switch to using marine diesel. Our fuel consumption will rise significantly,” she adds.
The redundancy talks are part of a larger cost-cutting programme. The Viking Line Group is to publish its 2013 year-end report on February 13. YLE
