Singapore is to prohibit the use of open-loop scrubbers in its waters from 1 January 2020, the maritime regulator confirmed Friday.
“To protect the marine environment and ensure that the port waters are clean, the discharge of wash water from open-loop exhaust gas scrubbers in Singapore port waters will be prohibited,” said Maritime Port Authority (MPA) chief executive Andrew Tan.
Instead, the MPA said vessels fitted with open-loop scrubbers would instead need to switch over to compliant fuel.
For ships fitted with hybrid scrubbers they will be required to switch to closed loop mode while in Singapore waters.
The MPA has also advised owners to carry out the switch to either closed-loop mode or to compliant fuel “well in advance of the vessel’s arrival”.
It said this was necessary so that "any operational issues can be identified and dealt with" before the ship starts manoeuvring in heavy traffic.
In addition, the MPA said it was “working closely with our licensed bunker suppliers” to ensure the availability of compliant fuel.
“As the world’s largest bunkering port, Singapore continuously strives to ensure that we remain a trusted and reliable bunkering hub,” it said.
The MPA said come 1 January 2020 Singapore will be able to offer a range of fuel oils including LNG, MGO, HSFO for ships with scrubbers and LSFO.
“Having clarity on Singapore regulations further is very important for the storage market as it gives clients a better grip on how the bunker fuel landscape will look like in 2020, and thus is taking away uncertainties,” said ABN AMRO analysts Thijs Berkelder and Wim Gille.
“Expecting that Singapore also in 2020 will remain a key bunker hub, that demand for bunker fuel under IMO 2020 will not change much but will only have much cleaner product characteristics, we do foresee a strong rebound in the bunker storage market in the coming years.”
