Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardAvoiding Out-of-Scope and 'Could Be True' Inference Traps

Under a regulatory framework established in 2024, any commercial cargo vessel operating on Baltic maritime routes must reduce its sulfur oxide emissions by at least 75 percent relative to its 2020 baseline during any calendar quarter in which it transits within 100 nautical miles of a major port. In the first quarter of 2026, every vessel in Maritime Corp's fleet operated exclusively on Baltic maritime routes and completed multiple transits within 100 nautical miles of major ports. During this same quarter, every vessel in Maritime Corp's fleet maintained sulfur oxide emissions at least 80 percent below its 2020 baseline, even though Maritime Corp did not purchase any low-sulfur synthetic fuels.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the information provided above?

  1. During the first quarter of 2026, every vessel in Maritime Corp's fleet satisfied the regulatory framework's sulfur oxide emission reduction requirement during its transits within 100 nautical miles of major ports on Baltic maritime routes.Answer
  2. B
    Maritime Corp achieved its sulfur oxide reductions by retrofitting its fleet engines with alternative mechanical filtration systems.
  3. C
    In the first quarter of 2026, Maritime Corp incurred higher total fleet operating costs than competing shipping lines that relied on low-sulfur synthetic fuels.
  4. D
    No commercial cargo vessel operating on Baltic maritime routes in the first quarter of 2026 emitted a lower volume of sulfur oxide than Maritime Corp's vessels.
  5. E
    Maritime Corp produced a smaller total volume of sulfur oxide emissions in the first quarter of 2026 than any competitor operating on Baltic maritime routes.

Answer

During the first quarter of 2026, every vessel in Maritime Corp's fleet satisfied the regulatory framework's sulfur oxide emission reduction requirement during its transits within 100 nautical miles of major ports on Baltic maritime routes.
The correct option is logically guaranteed by the text. The regulation requires a minimum 75% emission reduction for ships transiting within 100 nautical miles of major ports on Baltic routes. The passage confirms that every vessel in Maritime Corp's fleet operated on these routes, made such transits in the first quarter of 2026, and maintained reductions of at least 80%. Because 80% is greater than or equal to 75%, every vessel in the fleet necessarily met the regulatory requirement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the explicit regulatory condition given in the stimulus.
Regulations mandate at least a 75 percent reduction in sulfur oxide emissions relative to a 2020 baseline for vessels operating on Baltic routes within 100 nautical miles of a major port.
Establishing the precise criteria for compliance is necessary to evaluate claims about meeting regulatory standards.
2
Synthesize the facts regarding Maritime Corp's fleet during the first quarter of 2026.
All Maritime Corp vessels operated on Baltic routes, completed transits within 100 nautical miles of major ports, and achieved emission levels at least 80 percent below their 2020 baseline.
Comparing the fleet's actual performance (80 percent reduction) to the required threshold (75 percent reduction) reveals that the compliance standard was met.
3
Evaluate answer choices to eliminate out-of-scope hypotheses and 'could be true' speculations.
Only the statement declaring complete fleet compliance is logically guaranteed by combining the facts provided.
GMAT Critical Reasoning inference questions require selecting an option that MUST be true based solely on the given premises without external assumptions.

Key Concept

Identifying Must-Be-True Deductions vs. Out-of-Scope Speculations
Rate this question

Topics

Avoiding Out-of-Scope and 'Could Be True' Inference Traps

More questions from this topic