The regulatory reconfiguration of global maritime transport has reached a regulatory milestone that alters the balance on Atlantic routes. The formal adoption of the North East Atlantic Emission Control Area (ECA), ratified by the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 84) in London, establishes the largest perimeter of pollutant restrictions in the world. This gigantic grid will connect the exclusive economic zones of Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands with the already regulated sanctuaries of the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic. In the margins of this transformation, the archipelago of the Canary Islands emerges as one of the geographic points most exposed to the new technical and operational requirements due to its pre-existing environmental status.
The new regulation imposes strict limits on atmospheric pollutants with a binding cap of 0.10% on the sulfur content in heavy fuel oil, forcing an immediate reconversion of merchant fleets crossing the Atlantic. Beginning with its full implementation scheduled for September 2028, vessels in transit will be required to consume alternative fuels with low or zero sulfur content such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), or to install exhaust gas cleaning systems, technically known as scrubbers. However, the dynamics specific to the archipelago add notable regulatory complexity to the debate due to the Canary Islands’ status as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) officially designated by the IMO, a label reserved for unique ecosystems vulnerable to degradation from international maritime traffic alongside spaces like the Great Barrier Reef or the Galapagos Islands.
This confluence of protective figures places the waters of the Canary Islands at the center of future technological restrictions for the shipping industry. Although a direct ban on scrubbers in the new Atlantic ECA was not debated during the IMO sessions, technical committees have already referred to the PPR 14 subcommittee—scheduled to meet in January 2027—the possibility of imposing severe restrictions on the use of these systems within the PSSA. The questioning of scrubbers is gaining traction following studies from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) presented by delegations such as Canada’s, which suggest that the use of these technologies generates negative health effects and higher emissions compared to clean fuels, threatening to invalidate scrubbers as ‘equivalent’ emission reduction technology under the Marpol Convention.
For the port economy of the Canary Islands, the medium-term commercial implications are substantial. The PSSA status enables the application of specific control measures including strict maritime route planning, rigorous discharge standards, and the installation of advanced traffic control services. While ICCT models advocate that the new ECA will prevent 4,000 premature deaths and save up to 29 billion euros in health costs by 2050 on a global scale, Canary ports face the challenge of maintaining their competitiveness as supply stations against alternatives on the western African coast, which are exempt from these sulfur restrictions. The combination of the largest ECA in the world and the status of sensitive marine area will compel the industrial service framework of the islands to accelerate the transition towards low-emission bunkering to retain the attractiveness of their strategic tri-continental route.
