The Clean Shipping Alliance 2020 (CSA 2020) issued a statement according to which it has received written approvals and no-objection letters from several Port Authorities around the world indicating they have no intention of banning the use of open-loop scrubbers in their waters.
Specifically, after meeting with port officials, CSA 2020 acknowledged that the ports do not intend to submit any papers to IMO pertaining to EGCS operation unless new, compelling research comes to light.
In the meantime, CSA 2020 presented to ports scientific evidence based on which the wastewater produced by the exhaust gas cleaning process was environmentally acceptable and well within regulatory limits
CSA 2020 Executive Committee member Christopher Fee, General Manager, Environment and Sustainability, Oldendorff Carriers, highlighted
After research carried out by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Japan has now stated it will not ban the use of open-loop scrubbers in its waters and we hope to have more written confirmations in place soon.
Moreover, CSA 2020 has been sent no-objection letters from more than 20 ports in European, American, Asian and Australian areas. While the number of global ports with declared restrictions remains low, those that have decided to ban scrubbers are beginning to have second thoughts.
CSA 2020 Committee member William Nugent, Vice-President and Head of Ship Operations, International Seaways, added
With a significant number of world ports having now assessed the evidence and decided not to ban the use of open-loop scrubbers, we encourage other Port Authorities to consider the independent research and analyses before making any decisions.
Also, during February, DNV GL published a three-year study according to which 281 wash water samples from 53 different EGCS-equipped vessels were well within the allowable IMO criteria, as well as within the limits of other major water standards.
In addition, Japan’s MLIT revealed its result stating that no short-term or long-term effects on marine organisms can be caused by the use the technology.
Alliance Executive Director Ian Adams noted
While this study does not relate to ship emissions, in particular, it does help in reminding us all why we need to remove these airborne toxins from ports and harbour communities around the world.
The majority of scrubbers are able and designed to remove the pollutants that are a threat to the environment and may cause a variety of serious health problems.
According to CSA 2020 EGCS not only remove the greater part of Sulphur Oxides (SOx) from the exhaust gases of ships’ engines and boilers, but also remove up to 94% of the Particulate Matter (PM), up to 60% of the Black Carbon (BC) and a significant amount of the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH).