EMEA News
14 NGOs Urge Ban on Scrubber Discharges Along European Coastline
NABU and other environmental groups have urged the OSPAR Commission (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) to ban scrubber washwater discharge within 12 nautical miles of the Atlantic, North Sea and English Channel coasts.
A scrubber system or exhaust gas cleaning systems help ships to comply with the IMO's 0.50% sulfur cap by capturing sulfur dioxide from exhaust gases.
Open-loop scrubbers, a type of scrubber system, use seawater to remove sulphur dioxide from ship exhaust and discharge washwater back into the sea.
"Many studies confirm that scrubber wastewater significantly harms marine life and long-term accumulation of toxics jeopardizes efforts to achieve Good Environmental Status that should be maintained or reached through EU marine policies," NABU said in an email statement on Friday.
The scrubber industry funded its own research on the environmental impact of washwater in 2021. The report found no toxicity impact for fish, and some short-term effects on algae and crustaceans in high concentrations.
The report characterised the risk to the aquatic environment as acceptable.
The Port of Amsterdam recently banned discharge of washwater from open-loop scrubbers in its water.
"By implementing the 12-nautical-mile discharge ban, as announced by Denmark already, OSPAR would reinforce its commitment to marine protection and demonstrate the power of regional regulatory body to act against unsustainable practices," NABU stresses.
The global scrubber-equipped fleet consists of 6,032 vessels, with 81% equipped with open-loop scrubbers, according to data from classification society DNV.
