EMEA News
Denmark Mulls Scrubber Washwater Ban
Denmark's government is considering a ban on the discharge of washwater from scrubbers into its waters.
Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke is set to discuss the issue with senior politicians in the country's parliament, the Danish Environment Ministry said in a statement on its website.
The ministry is particularly concerned with the presence of heavy metals and tar substances in scrubber washwater.
"When heavy metals and tar substances are discharged to our marine environment, they do not disappear and remain in constant circulation in the sea," Heunicke said in the statement.
"The substances accumulate on the seabed and in the food chains of the sea, and this is deeply worrying about our marine environment and our health.
"We need to find a long-term solution to this."
Several port authorities around the world have introduced similar bans since 2020, when the global sulfur cap on bunker fuels of 0.50% drove many shipping companies to install scrubbers and continue using HSFO.
HSFO represented 32.3% of Singapore's total demand last year – up from 29.2% in 2022, 25.8% in 2021 and 21.3% in 2020.
But bans thus far have largely been fairly limited in geographical scope, and a ban covering all of Denmark's waters would be much larger in size. Denmark is also home to several leading bunkering companies including Bunker Holding and Monjasa, and one question to arise from the situation is whether these firms would face public pressure to halt HSFO sales.
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.
