Danish shipowner organisation Danske Rederier says it will support an agreement to prohibit the discharge of scrubber water into Danish waters, reached by a broad political majority in the country’s parliament.
Danske Rederier calls for thorough enforcement of the ban, saying that it must no longer be permitted for ships sailing through Danish waters to discharge the cleaning water from the smoke purification plants that clean the ships’ exhaust gas of sulphur, i.e. scrubbers.
Scrubbers became widespread after tighter sulphur regulations were introduced in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in 2015, and especially after global sulphur regulations came into force in 2020. The shipping companies could then choose to comply with the new regulations by either cleaning the smoke with a scrubber or switching to fuel with lower sulphur content.
Nina Porst, director of climate, environment and safety, Danske Rederier, said: “I am happy that the politicians have chosen to listen to our desire to introduce a reasonable phase-in period, so that the shipping companies that have invested a lot of money in complying with the rules and reducing their emissions of sulphur with the help of a scrubber, get time to adjust to a new reality.”
The ban on the discharge of scrubber water by ships will apply in the Danish maritime territory, 12 naut miles (approx. 22 km) from the coast. The agreement states that Denmark must work for a similar ban in the Baltic Sea and North Sea through the regional maritime conventions HELCOM and OSPAR with a view to regulation under IMO auspices.
Porst continued: “We will of course comply with the new rules, and therefore it is also important to us that with the ban comes a plan that will ensure robust enforcement. If that is not the case, it could end up putting some Danish shipping companies at a disadvantage compared to their foreign competitors.”
The ban comes into force on 1 July 2025 for ships with open-loop scrubbers, where the washing water is discharged into the sea. For ships with scrubbers in closed operation, the ban on discharging water comes into force on 1 July 2029.
Image: Danish maritime flag (source: Mark König, Unsplash)
