Asia/Pacific News
Malaysia Goes for Open Loop Scrubber Ban
Malaysia is the latest marine authority to prohibit use of open-loop scrubbers, which remove sulfur from a ship's exhaust and discharge washwater at sea, from its ports.
A notice posted on the website of Malaysia's maritime authority, Jabatan Laut Malaysia, says the country "prohibits the discharge of washwater from EGCS open-loop system whilst in Malaysian Water (12 nautical miles from the nearest land)."
The notice adds that ships calling to the Malaysian Ports are advised to change over to compliant fuel oil or change hybrid scrubbers to closed loop mode before entering Malaysian Waters and Ports.
A scrubber using a closed loop system discharges washwater to land-based facilities.
Nearby Singapore is another port authority to ban ships from using open-loop scrubbers in port waters. But as number of shipping companies have made significant investments in emission abatement equipment to meet the requirements of IMO2020, the negativity around scrubber operations is causing consternation.
Pro-scrubber group Clean Shipping Alliance 2020 has been talking to port authorities to get a better idea of the reasoning behind the closed loop bans.
CSA's Capt Mike Kaczmarek acknowledged that ports are protective of their reputations. He realises that "visible smoke [from ships' stacks] is no longer acceptable" so ports don't want to see that. But Kaczmarek, who is a senior executive with cruise operator Carnival, said that the CSA had found little hard research had been done when reaching out to port authorities.
Air quality not water quality has been behind some bans -- as in California and Sydney -- while in other cases, as in Belgium, the ban covers all ship discharges not just those from scrubber operations. Open loop bans do not seem to be backed up by evidence and research, Kaczmarek said.
As the current tally of open loop scrubber operation bans accounts for under 10% of ports visited by Carnival's cruise ships, the impact on his company is limited, he said. But that could change if bans became widespread. "We couldn't live with a total ban," the executive said.
