Scorpio Tankers Postpones 19 Scrubber Installations

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday May 6, 2020

Shipping company Scorpio Tankers has decided to postpone 19 scrubber retrofits on its vessels, the company said Wednesday.

"In April 2020, the company reached an agreement with its counterparty to postpone the purchase and installation of scrubbers on 19 of its vessels," Scorpio said in an earnings report.

"The installation of these scrubbers is now expected to begin not earlier than 2021."

The company completed 13 scrubber installations in the first quarter, and has 16 scheduled for the second quarter, seven for the third and none in the fourth quarter. 

In 2021 as a whole Scorpio currently plans to install a further nine, the company said.

In a statement a month ago the company warned narrowing price spreads between very low sulfur fuel oil and high sulfur fuel oil may limit its ability to make money from its scrubber investments.

"We may not realize all of the anticipated benefits of our investment in exhaust gas cleaning systems," the company said in the statement last month. 

"The realization of such benefits may be affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including but not limited to the pricing differential between high and low sulfur fuel oil, the availability of low sulfur fuel oil in the ports in which we operate and the impact of changes in the laws and regulations regulating the discharge and disposal of wash water."

Ship & Bunker News Team
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