Owners of commercial harbor craft—like tugboats, ferries, and private charter boats—are expressing concern over California’s new regulation that requires commercial vessels to have cleaner engines.
The regulation, which takes effect in 2023, sets stricter requirements for the types of engines—newer, less-polluting engines—allowed near California’s coast. The regulation will be rolled out in phases, whereby in 2025, commercial harbor engines must fully transition to zero-emission.
Gisele Anderson, co-president of Captain Dave’s Dana Point Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, told The Epoch Times the new regulations that force companies to replace their vessels’ engines, if not done so already, is a “deathblow.”
“It’s the kind of thing that can be really detrimental,” Anderson said, adding that replacing a boat’s engine puts the boat out of service for six weeks minimum, which would affect 10 percent of her company’s profits.
“We want to comply, and we’re all for air quality. We just would appreciate a more tapered approach,” she said.
Greg Bombard, president of Catalina Express, a ferry service with eight high-speed vessels that carry between 150–450 passengers that transports about 1 million passengers to Catalina Island annually, told The Epoch Times transitioning to new, cleaner engines presents a costly challenge for vessel owners in the maritime industry.
“This will be very detrimental to the economy of Catalina Island if we can’t find out way through this and keep fares at a price that’s workable for the families who visit or live on the island,” he said. “Everybody wants to do better. We’re all looking forward to the day we can hit zero emissions, but unfortunately, the technology is just not available for what we need to do today.”
The new engine requirement, Bombard said, would require one of the larger catamaran vessels to cut the passenger count in half and add another round-trip excursion, increasing the fuel burn and carbon footprint per passenger by 100 percent.
Otherwise, he said, it would cost $20 million to build a new boat.
According to CARB, the regulation will reduce 89 percent of diesel soot, 54 percent of nitrogen oxides, and lower the risk of cancer to over 22 million residents within 50 miles inland of the coast by 2035.
Owners of sportfishing companies worked with the board to make sure any engine upgrades with cleaner combustion were affordable.
After approximately 400 public meetings, a series of workshops, and stakeholder input, the board approved a one-time 10-year extension option for vessels needing a replacement engine but could not immediately afford one.
However, the extension applies only to commercial passenger fishing vessels, as the regulation could drive up costs for its consumer base.
Ken Franke, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, told The Epoch Times that sportfishing companies would have had to increase ticket prices to make up for the costs of the new engines, had the 10-year extension not been granted.
“Our clients are the people that can’t afford their own yacht,” Ken Franke, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, told The Epoch Times. “We’re the only way for them to go sportfishing out on the ocean, and it’s important for us that we also have reasonable ticket prices for all the kids’ or veterans’ trips and all those kinds of special events that we do.”
Other excursions in the maritime industries such as short-run ferries, whale-watching vessels, and dinner cruises must fully transition to zero-emission by 2025.
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