Port of Le Havre, Serep unveil scrubber waste treatment initiative

French Port of Le Havre, in partnership with Serep, a subsidiary of Sarp Industries, has set up a local industry for the treatment of scrubber residues.

As explained, with this move, the duo wants to offer “concrete solutions” to shipping companies that choose to use scrubbers.

Specifically, waste from ship exhaust fume purifiers is taken by truck to the treatment and recovery centre for processing. To encourage ships to deposit their liquid waste and scrubber residues on site, the port takes in charge 30 per cent of the cost of waste collecting.

“Alongside the world maritime shipping actors, the Port of Le Havre has engaged in an ambitious ecological transition to reduce the carbon footprint of its activities on the environment,” Baptiste Maurand, Managing Director of HAROPA – Port du Havre, commented.

“Among the actions carried out, there is the development of a scrubber residues industry. To promote and make it sustainable, we have also set up a financial incentive for our customers, taking in charge 30% of the cost of collecting liquid waste including scrubber residues”.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) decided to limit sulphur emissions from marine fuels to 0.5% in international waters. Having come into force from 1 January 2020, this new regulation aims to reduce the environmental impact of marine transport on air quality.

Le Havre has been in the Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) since 2015; a perimeter where the sulphur (SOx) emission rates must not exceed 0.1%. Ships sailing and docked in the port must either use fuels containing no more than 0.1% sulphur, or be fitted with a closed-loop scrubber system to filter and wash exhaust fumes.

Established in 1953, Serep developed a maritime waste collection activity in 2011 to provide a local response to the needs of ships in port. This port service, called Service Waste Collection (SWC), started with waste and residues from water/hydrocarbons (Marpol – Appendix I) and is now being extended with the management of scrubber residues (Marpol – Appendix VI).

Taking things further to make the industrial port area of Le Havre a smart industrial eco-park, consideration is underway to continue these efforts. In the field of circular economy in particular, Serep is finalising a short-circuit recovery project for hydrocarbons collected from ships.