Open-loop Scrubbers "Environmental Dodge"

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday October 29, 2018

A shipping analyst has criticised open-loop scrubbers for increasing pollution going in the sea.

The ship emissions abatement technology comes in two forms, open and closed.

Independent anaylst Ned Molly has singled out the former type as being little more than an "environmental dodge".

"This is sulfurphurous waste going into the sea," Molloy was quoted as saying to UK-based news provider the Guardian.

Molloy added that dumping such waste on land in the European Union would be illegal.

Scrubbing technology is being taken up by some ship operators ahead of the International Maritime Organisation cap on sulfur in bunker fuel with falls from its current 3.5% level to 0.5% from the start of 2020.

Scrubbers allow ships to use high sulfur bunker fuel and still comply with the new rule.