Pakistan has banned the use of open-loop scrubbers at the Port of Karachi as part of its drive to cut emissions and make ships calling at it comply with IMO 2020.
In a circular seen by shipping insurers The Standard Club, the Government of Pakistan’, Ministry of Affairs said “the discharge of wash-water from open-loop scrubbers is prohibited in Port.
It goes onto say that “While in the Port, vessels fitted with hybrid type of scrubbers should switch to the closed-loop mode of operations.
“As for vessels fitted with open-loop scrubbers, they would need to switch over to compliant fuel instead.”
The notice also advises ships to carry out this switch over well in advance of its arrival in port waters, so that any operational issues can be identified and dealt with before the ship enters Pakistan’s waters.
Before the implementation of IMO 2020, the regulations which strongly curtail the use of sulfur in a ship’s fuel, open-loop scrubbers were the most commonly used system at sea.
However, there is a growing number of ports, including Singapore, that are banning them because they discharge processed seawater back into the ocean.
