NGOs welcome new scrubber action group, call for global regulation for shipping

Responding to a February 9th event hosted by Denmark and the OSPAR Commission at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), where speakers called for ambitious IMO regulations as the only way for shipowners to avoid the increasing tangle of local, national and regional scrubber water discharge bans, the Clean Arctic Alliance called for immediate and ambitious creation of global regulations for scrubber use.

The Alliance also noted that the presentation from France at the event demonstrated that enforcement of scrubber discharge bans is easy and efficient for committed flag states.

The event was the outcome of work in the informal IMO: Scrubber Water Action Group (SWAG), held during the IMO’s Pollution Prevention and Response meeting (PPR13) this week in London. Scrubbers - or exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS) are devices installed on board ships with the purpose to cut air pollution, and from which toxic wastewater is dumped into the marine environment.

In reaction, Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance said: “The Clean Arctic Alliance welcomes the work of this important informal group of about 20 ambitious Flag States and the European Commission which includes, as part of its common purpose, the encouraging of more states to take action to limit adverse effects of scrubbers. Currently there is no global regulation addressing the management of scrubber wastewater - this black hole in the IMO’s efforts to manage and reduce the impact of global shipping on ocean health must be urgently addressed".

“'Due to the IMO’s failure to regulate harmful discharges from ships equipped with scrubbers, there is an increase in local, national, and regional authorities introducing bans on scrubber water discharges”, said Dr. Kåre Press-Kristensen from Green Global Future, a member of the Clean Arctic Alliance. “It will hence prove difficult for shipowners who have installed scrubbers to navigate in a world with very different and constantly changing regulations. The only way out of this mess is a rapid and ambitious IMO regulation of scrubbers”.

“France’s enforcement on scrubber water discharge bans presented at the February 9th side-event - hosted by Denmark and OSPAR during the IMO’s PPR 13 meeting, clearly illustrated that enforcement of bans are easy and efficient - that is enforcement issues are not an argument against strict regulation of scrubber water discharges”, said Press-Kristensen.

At PPR13, the Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on IMO member states to agree to develop a regulation in MARPOL Annex VI to facilitate restricting scrubbers (EGCS, or exhaust gas cleaning systems) in PSSAs (Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas) by supporting the proposal in PPR 13/7/2 and to consider extending the scope to ECAs (Emission Control Areas) as proposed in PPR 13/7/3.

“During this week’s meeting, IMO member states must agree that scrubber discharge water seriously affects aquatic ecosystems and therefore agree that not only do coastal states have the right to restrict or ban the discharges in their waters, but that global regulation is urgently needed - without global regulation it is not possible to adequately protect ocean health”, said Eelco Leemans, Technical Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. “Scrubbers at present justify the continued use of heavy fuel oil (HFO), the dirtiest of all fuels. The shipping industry should get their act together by rapidly moving away from HFO and from fossil fuels in the longer term.”