BERNHARD Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) believes that a significant part of the world's vessel fleet will be fitted with scrubbers in order to comply with the new global rule to cap sulphur content in marine fuel at 0
BERNHARD Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) believes that a significant part of the world's vessel fleet will be fitted with scrubbers in order to comply with the new global rule to cap sulphur content in marine fuel at 0.5 per cent from 2020. 'We are seeing a significant interest in scrubbers both for newbuilding projects and retrofits. One really needs to look at the specific vessel and trade requirements before a well-versed decision can be taken,' BSM's technical expert Jonathan Crispe was quoted as saying in an interview with Tanker Operator.
'Fitting scrubbers to newbuildings is obviously preferable in terms of integration with the other ships' plant and overall lower cost, particularly for the hybrid systems. The retrofit option is more problematic and may possibly extend the planned drydocking or require a longer repair period.
'That said, ships with EGCS [exhaust gas cleaning systems] will continue to burn high sulphur fuel oil, which is expected to be more economic when compared to low sulphur marine fuel. The payback period is therefore expected to be quite short.
'However, it is an option that comes with other challenges such as limited supply infrastructure (at least for a while); generation of chemicals and waste disposal that means ships need access to port reception facilities (also limited); and ongoing maintenance costs,' he said.
Wallem Group technical director Ioannis Stefanou commented that although the great majority of shipowners had adopted a 'wait and see' approach, that changed this summer when many big and small companies announced plans to install scrubbers on their vessels; some going as far as taking a stake in scrubber manufacturers.
Most of the retrofit scrubbers seem to be ordered for larger vessels.
'Given the right assumptions with regards to HFO [heavy fuel oil] availability and price, this probably makes absolute sense since large vessels, such as VLCCs [very large crude carriers] have enough space for a scrubber installation and have high consumption of fuel,' said Mr Stefanou.
'We have seen the same trend in our managed fleet over the past few months, when an increasing number of owners of larger vessels declared their intention to install scrubbers on their vessels as a retrofit,' he explained.
As indicated, the choice between using scrubbers or compliant fuel is primarily guided by the vessel size, as this significantly impacts fuel costs, and the vessel age, as this determines the return on investment.
A complete scrubber installation project can take close to a year to complete and retrofits can cost anywhere from US$3 million to $6 million, depending on vessel's size.
