All over the world, more environmental restrictions are adopted to secure a sustainable future and comply with the UN SDGs. This is also seen within the shipping industry as several countries have banned the discharge of wash water from open-loop scrubbers. Let us dive into which countries have adopted a ban.
An open-loop scrubber discharges sulfuric scrubber wash water containing gaseous and particulate emissions removed from the exhaust gases into the sea. More ports adopt stricter environmental regulations to fight ocean acidification, making it difficult for vessels to operate with an open-loop scrubber. As of today, more than 120 ports worldwide have banned open-loop scrubber discharge. And in November 2020, the European Parliament’s environmental committee voted to out-phase and ban open-loop scrubbers. Bans mainly apply in high-traffic areas, such as ports and canals. According to Safety4Sea, it is prohibited to discharge scrubber wash water or have an open-loop scrubber in many ports and territorial waters, including:
- Bahrain (within port limits)
- Belgium (ports and inland waters)
- Bermuda (territorial waters)
- China (territorial waters)
- Egypt (Suez Canal)
- France (specific ports)
- Germany (inland waters and ports bordering inland waters)
- Gibraltar (local waters)
- Ireland (within the ports of Cork, Dublin, and Waterford)
- Lithuania (port waters)
- Malaysia (territorial waters)
- Norway (heritage fjords)
- Pakistan (within port limits)
- Panama (the Panama Canal)
- Portugal (port waters)
- Scotland (within the ports of Forth and Tay)
- Singapore (within port limits)
- Spain (within the port of Algeciras)
- Sweden (within the port of Brofjorden)
- UAE (within Fujairah and Abu Dhabi port limits)
- USA (within Connecticut port waters and Californian waters)
- And many more