Royal Caribbean Installing Scrubbers Due to 'Limited' Availability Low-Sulfur Fuel

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 24, 2014

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) [NYSE, OSE: RCL] has announced that it will be installing scrubbers on 13 of its cruise ships for sulfur compliance due to the "limited" availability of low-sulfur fuel. 

"The decision to install advanced emissions purification (AEP) systems instead of switching to a fuel with a lower sulfur content will ensure that RCL's ships can be compliant everywhere they sail, as availability of lower-sulfur fuels is limited," said the company.

The systems are a mix of Alfa Laval Inc and Wärtsilä Corporation scrubbers, and will remove 97 per cent of sulfur dioxide emissions, said RCL. 

"AEP technology for maritime vessels is very new, and we expect that by utilizing multiple technological solutions to accommodate the differences among our ships, additional development will ultimately help industrialize AEP technology even more, which will benefit not only RCL but also the larger maritime industry," said President and COO Adam Goldstein.

The installations are slated to take place sometime between 2015 and 2017, and will take place during scheduled dry-dockings. 

RCL said that preliminary work on some of the ships to prepare for the upcoming additions had already begun, with the whole process of the installations to take around eight months.

Two of RCL's ships, Quantum of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, already have scrubber systems installed.