A study on the atmospheric and oceanic effects of scrubber residues and operations has seen environmentalists take their concerns to the IMO in a bid to see all scrubber technology banned.

Pacific Environment, which monitors the ecological effects of pollution on the land and populations of the Pacific rim, announced the findings of its study “Poison in the Water,” which concludes that scrubber wastewater is highly toxic, and the toxicity is further concentrated as fish and other organisms feed spreading the pollutants up the food chain.

Released on 28 January, Poison in the Water also concluded that vessels operating on HFO with scrubbers create 70% more particulate matter and up to 4.5 times more black carbon and considerably more cancer inducing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), into the atmosphere compared to ships running on marine gas oil (MGO)."

Kay Brown, Arctic Policy Director at Pacific Environment told Seatrade Maritime News: “Scrubbers should be banned altogether; data shows that there is no safe use of scrubbers on our marine environment. Closed loop scrubbers produce concentrated effluent. Both closed and open loop scrubbers increase particulate matter including black carbon and perpetuate the use of HFO.” Scrubbers are used by shipowners as a way of allowing them to comply with the IMO 2020 regulation mandating low sulphur fuel of less than 0.5% while at the same time continuing to use high sulphur fuel oil (HFO) which is cheaper than its low sulphur alternatives.

The use of scrubbers continues to rise especially among larger vessels where the economics in terms of payback work best. According to data from analysts Alphaliner last week the world’s largest container line MSC had 58% of its fleet fitted with scrubbers. The percentage of the container ship fleet of Chinese giant Cosco Shipping installed with exhaust gas cleaning systems has increased to 30% in January this year compared to 10% in January 2023. Ironically scrubbers are also being used by shipowners to meet interim CO2 emissions reductions targets...However, environmentalists say that communities that rely on the oceans for food are at significant risk with the bio-magnification of pollutants working their way up through the food chain, putting humans at risk of severe lung disfunction, disrupted cognitive development and a number of cancers... “Scrubber discharge has been a pollution issue for years and regulators have not acted to protect our oceans, marine resources, human health and wildlife. With so much data showing the destruction of our marine environment, it is past time for regulators to act to ban scrubbers and stop bowing to pressure from the shipping and oil industries,” said Brown.

Pacific Environment want regulators to adopt proactive measures to mitigate scrubber pollution risks, by prioritising prevention of environmental and health disasters. “If policymakers account for the substantial environmental and human health costs of unrestricted scrubber use, and recognize the economic, ecological and human health consequences of inaction, they will find the adequate justification to ban scrubber discharge into the marine environment,” concluded the report.