According to a representative from a major scrubber manufacturer, ports banning open-loop scrubbers on vessels will lift that restriction once it is proven that the wastewater from the devices does not pollute ocean water, reports Argus Media.
Studies To Be Widely Accepted?
The ban on open loop scrubbers will be lifted once studies released by Carnival and agribusiness giant Cargill, and another by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, become widely accepted, said Ram Vis, chief executive of the Houston-based marine consultancy Viswa Group, at the ShippingInsight’s Fleet Optimization & Innovation conference in Stamford, Connecticut.
The two studies released earlier this year, from the Japanese ministry and the pro-scrubber lobbying group, say the water discharge from the open-loop scrubbers is within International Maritime Organization 2020 (IMO) regulations.
With the IMO regulation requiring lower sulphur fuel starting on 1 January, it has been an open question on how shipowners and shipping companies will comply — by either switching to the low sulphur fuel oil or continuing to use 3.5pc sulphur fuel oil and installing a scrubber to clean emissions.
Sulphur Not an Havoc?
“Sulphur is in the land, sulphur is in the water but all that we want is we should not breathe it,” Vis said. “We shouldn’t think that discharging some sulphur water in the seawater is going to create some havoc in the sea. It doesn’t make sense.”
Backdrop of this
The concerns about discharge from open-loop scrubbers has led to several ports banning the device in its waters. The Panama Canal said last week that it would prohibit it, the most recent port to do so. Others that have blocked its use include China, Singapore, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates and some US states such as California, Connecticut and Hawaii.
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Source: Argus Media
