The Marshall Islands ship register’s IMO expert has confirmed it could be years before the IMO comes up with any significant changes to regulations covering the use of open-loop scrubbers.
Nick Makar, regulatory affairs advisor to the Marshall Islands flag, said it is unlikely there will be any changes before, or in the first few years after, the implementation of the IMO 2020 sulphur cap.
Thousands of owners who have fitted scrubbers to comply with the regulations fear the European Commission’s call for the IMO to conduct a review of the technology's environmental impact could lead to a ban.
Open-loop scrubbers — or exhaust gas cleaning systems — wash the sulphur out of emissions and discharge it directly into the sea.
Makar said that after the EC’s call, the IMO had agreed to establish a working group on the “evaluation and harmonisation of rules and guidance on the discharge of liquid effluents from exhaust gas cleaning systems into waters, including conditions and areas”.
However, its work will not be completed until 2021 and any regulatory changes could even then be “some years in the future”, he said.
Makar added there is some uncertainty over what the group will achieve, and said the Marshall Islands is looking for clarification. “We would like some clarity on what it is expected to do, the output is unclear at the moment,” he said.
Makar said that a working group, set up under the Pollution Prevention and Response working group to update standards for scrubbers, was still working on refining the scope and title of its output.
The IMO has also asked the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection to start work on assessing the environmental impact of open-loop scrubbers. The work is in its early stages.
Although the IMO seems unlikely to come up with regulations that will effect the use of open-loop scrubbers before 2020, there are some port states applying their own regional bans.
However, Makar said most bans had been applied as a “precautionary measure” while there remains uncertainty over the environmental impact of scrubbers on the environment.
