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A newly Hybrid SOx Scrubber System develop[ds_preview]ed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha (MKK) has been certified by the Republic of Panama.

It has been tested for almost a year on Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha’s (»K« Line) car carrier »Drive Green Highway« with a capacity of almost 7,500 units. It is the first installation of a system jointly developed by MHI and MKK specifically for marine applications. The system had been undergoing verification testing ever since the ship’s delivery in February 2016 and the test results mark the first time Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (Class NK) has satisfied international guidelines for exhaust gas cleaning systems.

In response, Panama approved that the »Drive Green Highway« is equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning system whose effectiveness has been substantiated, and on 11 January, a certificate of compliance, the first awarded to a Panamanian ship as Japanese SOx Scrubber System, was conferred at the Embassy of Panama in Tokyo.

At a meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) held in October 2016, a decision was reached to tighten regulations on the sulfur content of marine fuels in all waters of the world except designated Emission Control Areas (ECA), from the current 3.5 % limit to less than 0.5 % starting 1 January, 2020. Under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), state parties to the convention are allowed, in lieu of using marine oil with sulfur content below 0.5 %, to use marine fuel with a sulfur density of 3.5% on ships that are equipped with systems of equivalent efficiency as confirmed by the supervisory authority of the party to the convention.