Anti-Scrubber Movement Fades

Is the sun setting on anti-scrubber rhetoric? File Image / Pixabay

The wave of anti-scrubber rhetoric witnessed over recent months, which included notable bans of open loop scrubbers by the world’s biggest bunkering port, Singapore, among others, now appears to be fading.

Among the signs are an announcement Thursday by scrubber advocate group Clean Shipping Alliance 2020 (CSA 2020) who says it has received written approvals and no-objection letters from several Port Authorities around the world indicating they have no intention of banning the use of open-loop scrubbers in their waters - unless new, compelling research comes to light to suggest they should.

But based on current evidence, and significantly the recent presentation by Japan at PPR6 suggesting scrubber equipped vessels may provide a better environmental solution overall than those burning 0.50% sulfur fuels alone, the ports are said to be happy to accept scrubber-equipped tonnage.

While not named specifically, the 20 ports in question are said to cover Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australasia.

“It appears that some ports are revoking their earlier decisions to restrict open-loop scrubber use now that more academic studies have been made publicly available,” said Christopher Fee, General Manager, Environment and Sustainability, Oldendorff Carriers and CSA 2020 Executive Committee member.

Several media outlets had previously embraced speculation that the open-loop scrubber bans would drive a worldwide ban on the technology.

But CSA2020’s comments are just the latest indicator that the recent (albeit brief given scrubbers’ 15+ year history of use in the marine industry) mainstream opposition to scrubbers is losing steam.

Maersk, who were notable for being the first major shipping firm to denounce scrubbers, revealed in February it has actually spent $263 million on scrubber retrofits deals.

And during its latest earnings call this week, Euronav told analysts that “we never said that we were against scrubbers” and added it was still open to using the technology. Euronav’s recently replaced CEO, Paddy Rodgers, last year became one of the more high-profile voices of the anti-scrubber movement.

“With a significant number of world ports having now assessed the evidence and decided not to ban the use of open-loop scrubbers, we encourage other Port Authorities to consider the independent research and analyses before making any decisions,” said CSA 2020 Committee member William Nugent, Vice-President and Head of Ship Operations, International Seaways.