MOL, CAEM to develop next-gen scrubber for car carriers in California

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has signed a contract to provide the funds for Clean Air Engineering Maritime (CAEM), a US-based ship-auxiliary generator exhaust treatment company, to develop a new-generation marine exhaust treatment system.

The system will be used on MOL-operated car carriers from 2025 to prevent air pollution in California.

The state of California in the United States is taking advanced measures to prevent air pollution. In particular, according to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) At-Berth Regulation which regulates the emission of exhaust from diesel auxiliary engines on certain classes of ships arriving in California ports, ships calling in that state are required to reduce the number of air pollutants emitted during their mooring at ports.

Regulations began for containerships in 2007, and car carriers are scheduled to be included in the regulations in 2025.

In June 2015, CAEM became the first company to receive CARB approval for its barge-based marine exhaust treatment system (METS-1) which captures air pollutants exhausted from the ship’s stack and treats the exhaust by removing all of the required pollutants pursuant to CARB standards.

CAEM has been providing its services at the Port of Los Angeles, California, since then, and CAEM is currently the only company providing vessel exhaust capture and treatment services in compliance with the CARB At-Beth Regulation and has successfully serviced approximately 400 vessels with 23,000 service hours, mainly for containerships.

In cooperation with CAEM, MOL will join the development of a new system for car carriers, METS-3, and will work to prevent air pollution in the area. MOL vessels are said to visit the ports in the region 70 times annually.

“CAEM is honored to partner with MOL on the latest design and production of our marine exhaust treatment system, the METS-3, which will meet the challenges of capturing and treating exhaust from car carriers,” Nick Tonsich, Clean Air Engineering Maritime President, said.

In the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1“, MOL positions prevention of air pollution, protection of biodiversity, and preservation of marine environments as important issues in addition to addressing the issue of climate change.

In California, which has advanced environmental regulations, the Japanese shipping company will not only study the use of shore power to supply power to ships from onshore power sources but will also promote the development and use of this marine exhaust treatment system as a new means to prevent air pollution, one of our most important issues.

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