How to cheat fuel standards, or millions in damage in the Baltic Sea

Could pro-environmental regulations prove to be an own-goal? That’s according to a recent report by Swedish scientists who studied the damage in the Baltic Sea caused by dirty water from scrubbers used on ships. The controversial technology was popularized in 2015 to reduce the emission of sulfur compounds into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the marine environment suffers and shipping companies count their profits.

What are scrubbers?

In 2020. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has introduced regulations on the permissible content of sulfur compounds in fuels used by ships. In order to meet the new rules, maritime shipping companies have begun to invest in what they call a “new” way of doing business. “scrubbers,” which are devices that purify the gases emitted during oil combustion. They use dispersed seawater to flush out volatile sulfur compounds, reducing the amount of harmful emissions. At the same time, it is also generating irreparable damage in the Baltic Sea and other world bodies of water.

The seawater used in the scrubbers is usually applied as part of an open loop, much cheaper to implement. Thus, after the engine exhaust is cleaned, it returns to the sea, carrying with it sulfur compounds, heavy metals and carcinogenic PAHs. As a result, it acidifies the water and poses a serious threat to marine organisms. Every year, 200 million^{cubic meters of} toxic “washings” enter the Baltic Sea because of this.

Scientists have quantified the damage in the Baltic Sea

In May this year. The journal Nature Sustainability published a disturbing study by a team of researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. It shows that the use of scrubbers between 2014 and 2022 generated €680 million in damage in the Baltic Sea. This total includes socioeconomic costs estimated from theoretical models – however, according to the study’s authors, they are severely underestimated. They do not take into account, for example, expenses related to neutralizing damage in the Baltic Sea caused by fuel spills from ships that would no longer be allowed to sail without the existence of scrubbers. An infamous example is the Marco Polo ferry accident in 2023. got bogged down off the Swedish coast of Blekinge. At the time, the heavy oil spill reached 5 km in size.

The study’s authors point to an apparent conflict of interest between profit-driven, private fleet owners and the well-being of the fragile marine environment. The colossal damage to the Baltic Sea could be reduced if ships used lighter, desulfurized fuel. However, the investment in scrubbers and the burning of heavy fuel oil works out more secretly for them.

According to calculations by Chalmers scientists, 3,800. Baltic vessels by 2022. has already saved €4.7 billion by leaching sulfur from fuel into the sea. In 95 percent. The ships purchase of the scrubber pays for itself within five years. Shipping officials defend that they have complied with IMO-imposed rules and effectively reduced sulfur emissions into the atmosphere. That is supposedly where their responsibility ends.

Bans on scrubbers are being prepared

The risks associated with the use of scrubbers are already on the agenda of the IMO, the European Union and the governments of the various Baltic countries. In April this year. Denmark has banned the discharge of scrubber water within 12 nautical miles of the coast. The ban will go into effect on July 1, 2025. Scrubbers will only be allowed to use closed-circuit ships, where dirty water is collected in special tanks and returned to the port. The Danish environment minister motivates the decision by caring for the marine environment, but also by the need to preserve the quality of the food chain – as the fish we eat can absorb toxic substances.

Similar bans or restrictions have already been introduced by Germany, as well as France, Portugal, Turkey and China. A proposal for analogous legislation is also under consideration by the Swedish parliament. For now, individual Scandinavian ports are enforcing their own strictures.

More than 5,000 are already sailing around the world. scrubber ships. Seemingly, it’s only 5 percent. of the global fleet, but these are high fuel-consumption units that account for 25% of the global fleet. world demand for heavy fuel oil. The problem is therefore much broader and is not limited to damage in the Baltic Sea. A study commissioned by the Canadian government in 2020. has proven that any type of scrubber harms the aquatic environment, and that the emissions of vessels using it are always higher than those of vessels powered by low-sulfur MGO fuel.

Photo. main: Venti Views