Sharjah24- AFP: Off Belgium's coast, a small twin-propeller plane swoops above giant freight ships, picking up traces of their exhausts and subjecting them to on-the-spot analyses of sulphur and nitrogen levels.
Ships risk a fine if the reading comes out too high. The Coast Guard aircraft is fitted with an atmospheric pollution sensor that crews call the "sniffer".
Developed by researchers at a Swedish university, it is a point of pride for Belgian authorities.
"We're the only country to use this system at the moment," one of the aerial operators, Ward Van Roy, said.
"It's really effective because we can check up to 10 to 15 ships per hour, whereas a port inspector has to spend a whole day on just one ship," said the young Flemish technician.
The device sits behind the cockpit of the light plane, a 49-year-old British-made Britten-Norman Islander -- flown by two military pilots used to low-altitude operations.
A computer screen feeds the operator real-time data of the samples being measured.
The task of the "pollution-sniffer" is to see whether the nitrogen oxides and sulphur emitted by the sea vessels meet European norms.
The ship's age is a factor in determining acceptable levels of nitrogen oxides.
Meanwhile any aerial detection has to be followed up in port to test the ship's fuel before any fine can be levied.
Van Roy explained that the financial blow can be as much as 300,000 euros ($350,000), on top of the cost to the operating company if its ship is stuck in port.
That hefty risk may account for a decline in fines handed out over the past six years.
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