Asia/Pacific News
NYK, ClassNK to Team With Singapore Groups on Non-ECA Scrubbers
ClassNK has announced that the Japanese classification society, along with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), will team up with a Singaporean company and a university to develop scrubbers for use outside of Emission Control Areas (ECA).
The agreement will see ClassNK working with NYK's Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI), along with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and Sembcorp Marine Technology Pte. Ltd. on scrubbers that will cut down on sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions and carbon dioxide.
Research will primarily focus on exhaust gas cleaning systems that can help with future sulfur compliance beyond 2020 or 2025, said the organisations, researching new methods of installation and making scrubber sizes smaller.
The goal is for the scrubbers to be installed on many ship types, along with newbuilds and existing vessels.
The global sulfur cap is currently 3.5 percent, but is due to drop to 0.50 percent beginning in 2020.
That date, however, could potentially be pushed back to 2025 subject to a review in 2018.
Oil major BP had previously said that a 2020 start date on the sulfur cap was feasible, having urged the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to confirm the date for the regulations.
