Price, Timing, Space Present Issues for Scrubbers

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday July 7, 2014

Scrubbers can be an attractive solution for compliance with Emissions Control Area (ECA) rules in some cases, but their price, installation time, and size all present issues for ship owners, John-Laurent Tronche, Platts Americas team leader for bunkers and residual fuel said in a Platts podcast.

Tronche said a scrubber installation can cost $2 million to $7 million and take nine months, plus additional time due to a backlog of orders at the moment, while the size of the systems are also an issue.

"Where do you put it?," he said.

"If you put it on your ship you're going to have to give up some potential cargo space which means less revenue."

Tronche said cruise ships are the most common market for scrubbers since they spend a great deal of time operating within ECAs.

He said low-sulfur fuels, including marine gas oil (MGO) and blends of low-sulfur fuel and ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD) are attractive to many ship operators but come at a significant cost.

Another issue with MGO is that it is hard to find at some ports, he added.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has a lot of support within the industry, Tronche said, but, like scrubbers, it requires more dedicated space on a ship.

The other problem with LNG is the continuing "chicken and egg" question of whether infrastructure to supply the fuel or vessels running on it will come first, he said.

A ShippingWatch survey earlier this year found that most companies plan to use MGO for compliance with ECAs.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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