The International Maritime Organization on Thursday adopted stringent new controls on airborne pollution from the world's 300,000 oceangoing vessels.

Emissions from ships steaming into ports from Rotterdam to Shanghai to Long Beach, are blamed for about 60,000 premature deaths around the world annually.

The new rules, which differ little from proposals the group approved in April, would cut the sulfur content of the fuels ships use in controlled areas along coasts by 63 percent as of July of 2010, and by more than 95 percent as of January 2015.

Oceangoing ships are largely propelled by bunker fuel, which is one of the most cost-effective — it provides more energy per gallon than the distilled products used in other diesel and gasoline engines — and environmentally destructive fuels in use anywhere.

Sulfur emissions are a major source of airborne fine particulates, which have been associated with pulmonary and cardiovascular disease. In some ports in Europe and in the United States, environmental groups, using the courts, and local governmental bodies have required ships to shut off their engines and plug in to the local electrical grid to keep ship operations functioning while in port.

 The international group approved the measure with little discussion late Thursday at its meeting in London, according to Janea Scott, a lawyer with the Environmental Defense Fund who attended the meeting. Scott spoke by telephone from London.

Both shipping interests and environmental groups had been unsure if any major last-minute changes would be made, but with the exception of changes of a few months in two of the deadlines, the original proposals were approved.

Now individual countries must set the boundaries of the so-called emission control areas in which the new, stringent fuel standards apply. This sets the stage for a renewed tug of war as environmental advocates are likely to seek to include as much of a country's offshore waters as possible in the emission control areas, while shipping interests are likely to call for far more limited boundaries.

Andreas Chrysostomou, the chairman of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, hailed the decision as "an historical moment," Scott said.

T. L. Garrett, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, an industry trade group, said Thursday: "This is good news — we are fully supportive of this. We think the international approach that creates uniformity is the way to approach the issues."

Scott of the Environmental Defense Fund said, "It's really impressive when 168 nations can come together and agree on protective measures for the environment." She added that the Environmental Protection Agency, which will propose the boundaries of the emission control areas, "should apply as soon as possible."

In addition to setting limits for the offshore areas, the organization also cut the allowable standards for midocean operation. Currently, even though the average sulfur content of bunker fuel is about 27,000 parts per million, the rules allow fuel with up to 45,000 parts per million. This will be reduced to 35,000 parts per million in 2012 and to 5,000 parts per million in 2020, providing that a review demonstrates that there will be enough of the fuel available.