Canadian East Coast Ferry Operator Looks to Phase Out HFO

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday November 8, 2016

Canadian East Coast ferry operator Marine Atlantic Inc. (Marine Atlantic) says it is working to reduce its HFO consumption, aiming to become 100 percent reliant on marine diesel by January 2020, local media reports.

2020 is when the global 0.50 percent global sulfur cap for marine fuel is set to come into effect, which will mean burning most HFOs is not an option without the use of a scrubber.

"The environmental initiative, we can all buy into," Paul Griffin, Marine Atlantic's president and CEO was quoted as saying.

"Anything that reduces fuel emissions is a good thing. As with many environmental initiatives, however, there is a cost. In our case, the result will be an increase fuel cost because diesel is a lot more expensive."

The company says the increased bunker cost will be passed onto its costumers.

Low bunker prices are noted to have led Marine Atlantic to drop its fuel surcharge from 21 percent to 15 percent last spring.

As Ship & Bunker reported in June, Christian Poensgen, senior vice president engineering at MAN Diesel & Turbo SE (MAN) said that, as the industry looks to reduce its operation costs, low bunker prices mean that energy efficiency improvements on marine engines need to be delivered at "twice the value for the same price."