The letter is written to the office in a formal report style.

Dear [Technical Superintendent / Fleet Manager],

Subject: Breakdown of the exhaust gas cleaning system (open loop scrubber) display panels during loaded voyage, remediation steps taken, and regulatory reference

I report that during the current loaded voyage the display panels of our open loop exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS / scrubber) - both the remote (bridge/ECR) panel and the local panel - have stopped working. The concrete symptoms are a blank/non-responsive display on the remote panel and failure of the local panel, so we have lost representation of the scrubber operating parameters (wash water flow, differential pressure, pH, temperature, SOx/emission indications and alarm functions) and the ability to operate/control the unit from the panels.

Steps I have taken to bring the system back to normal operation:

• Carried out an immediate assessment: confirmed the panels are not responding despite power being available, isolated the fault to the display/control panels rather than the scrubber process hardware, and informed the bridge and the superintendent by e-mail and by the company breakdown notification procedure.
• Attempted a controlled re-set: rebooted/cycled the power to the local and remote panels and the control PLC following the maker's instructions, checked fuses/breakers, panel power supplies and terminal connections, and reseated the connectors between the local panel, the PLC and the remote repeater.
• Where a transient fault, the re-set has restored the local/remote displays; where not restored, I have arranged for the maker's service engineer to attend at the next port, and requested the supplier's troubleshooting support, spares and software as required.
• Maintained the scrubber operation and monitored the vessel's emission compliance meanwhile by using the available instrumentation: the pH/flow/temperature indicators and the exhaust gas SOx (if still available locally), keeping the system running in open-loop mode with the wash water flow/pH within the maker's and MARPOL limits, and logging the parameters manually so that an alarm/historical record is available.
• Kept vessels' sea water discharge criteria and the SOx-emission criteria satisfied during the period the panels are degraded, by operating with the manual/bypass functions and strict supervision, so that the discharge wash water pH and temperature as well as the emission readings remain within the required bands; final calibration of the instruments will be confirmed when the maker attends.

Regulatory reference: I would note that the scrubber is installed as the approved EGCS under MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14 (sulphur oxides control, SOx), and that as an "equivalent method" (Regulation 14.1.2) under the sulphur requirements of MARPOL Annex VI (Reg. 14, per Regulation 4 of the 2020 low-sulphur system) the exhaust gas cleaning system is approved to reduce SOx; the system is subject to the IMO Guidelines for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (Resolution MEPC.259(68)), which require that the EGCS be kept operational, logged and verified. The failure of the display panels is being rectified so that the system's records and alarms are fully restored; meanwhile I am maintaining the record and any discharge data as the guidelines and MARPOL require, and I will ensure an entry is made in the appropriate log/record book.

I will keep the office informed of the repair progress and, on restoration, will carry out a full check/test of the alarms and instrumentation before returning the system to fully automatic display/control.

Regards,

Second Engineer Officer