New EU environmental legislation originating from the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will take effect as of 1^st January 2015. The introduction of a Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) aims at ensuring an important reduction in marine sulphur emissions in Northern Europe to the advantage of the environment. From a carriers perspective, the question becomes how to comply with this new legislation. Opting for retrofit solutions may be a viable strategic decision.

This paper firstly explains the consequences and possibilities of environmental measures in the RoRo shipping business. Next, technologies in order to deal with the environmental issues are financially evaluated. Thirdly, the possible retrofitting technologies are evaluated from an aggregated viewpoint.

From a private cost perspective, firstly, it is found that as long as the LNG prices are decent in combination with an acceptable distribution system, changing main engines from diesel fired towards dual fuel engines could result in a win-win solution. However, finding private funds could be a problem. Given the latter, some shipping lines may ignore the new regulation; especially since for most retrofit solutions the private return on investment is negative. Contrary, the societal return is positive, hence, the question becomes how government can support the implementation of these solutions. The last part of the paper examines incentives to reduce CO2 emission for existing ships with a view to encouraging ship-owners to integrate such emission reduction into their business objectives at the least cost.