Two new Emission Control Areas take effect in northern waters
The Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea ECAs entered into force on 1 March 2026. The sulphur limit follows a year later; NOx applies on different terms in each area.
Amendments to MARPOL Annex VI adopted under Resolution MEPC.392(82) at MEPC 82 in October 2024 entered into force on 1 March 2026, designating the Canadian Arctic and the Norwegian Sea as Emission Control Areas for nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter.
The Canadian Arctic ECA extends the existing North American ECA across Canadian Arctic waters. The Norwegian Sea ECA extends the North Sea ECA over Norway's exclusive economic zone, its fjords and coastal waters, reaching to the Russian border.
The phase-in differs by pollutant and by area. In both ECAs the 0.10 per cent sulphur limit — or an approved exhaust gas cleaning system achieving equivalent reduction — applies from 1 March 2027, one year after designation. For NOx, the Canadian Arctic applies Tier III to ships with keels laid on or after 1 January 2025, effective from 1 March 2026. The Norwegian Sea uses a three-date test: building contract on or after 1 March 2026, or keel laid on or after 1 September 2026 where there was no prior contract, or delivery on or after 1 March 2030.
Operational perspective
For voyage planning the immediate consequence is a bunker question with a date on it. From March 2027 a passage crossing either area needs compliant fuel aboard for the ECA leg, or a scrubber in working order, and the fuel-change point has to be planned rather than improvised. Northern routings frequently cross an ECA boundary at an awkward moment — leaving a Norwegian port, entering Canadian Arctic waters from Baffin Bay — and the changeover has to be logged.
The NOx provisions are worth reading carefully against the specific ship rather than assumed from the fleet. The two areas use different tests, and the Norwegian three-date structure exists precisely to stop construction milestones being shuffled to avoid Tier III. Whether a given hull is caught depends on contract, keel and delivery dates that the operator has on file and the planner often does not.
There is also a practical point about bunker availability at high latitude. Compliant fuel in a Rotterdam or Singapore rotation is a procurement detail; the same fuel for a vessel operating out of a northern port with limited supply is a planning constraint. The year between designation and the sulphur limit is the window in which that gets arranged.