Denmark’s
government has joined the growing list of countries taking action against
open-loop scrubbers, having reached a “broad political agreement” to ban the
discharge of washwater from scrubbers into its waters, starting next
year.
The ban that covers ships with
open-loop scrubbers out to 22 km from the Danish coasts comes into force on
July 1, 2025.
The
Danish Environment Ministry said the use
of open-loop scrubbers has contributed to excessive levels of a number of heavy
metals and tar substances in the marine environment and that the agreement
to prohibit such actions in Danish waters could reduce the discharge of nickel
into the sea by up to 20% and anthracene by 7%.
“This
agreement is another important step on the way to a better marine environment.
Scrubber water emits a number of problematic substances, which accumulate on
our seabed and are absorbed into the ocean’s food chains and end up in the fish
we eat. The discharge of environmentally hazardous substances comes from many
different sources, but scrubber water is a source about which we have a lot of
knowledge and data, and therefore I am
happy that we are now putting an end to the pollution with scrubber water in
Danish territorial waters,” said environment minister Magnus Heunicke.
Ships
will be required to switch to using either low-sulphur fuel or closed-loop
scrubbers. The ban on closed-loop scrubber discharges will come into force in
July 2029. The agreement also states that Denmark would work for a similar ban
in the Baltic Sea and North Sea through the regional maritime conventions.
.Other countries, including China, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and many European ports and regions, have already
banned the use of open-loop scrubbers.