Odfjell says it will not install "scrubbers" to meet new fuel standards
13/09/2018 16:09
OSLO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Chemical tanker firm Odfjell
ODF.OL said it will not invest in scrubbers to clean fuel on
its vessels to comply with new stricter emission rules from 2020
but instead buy fuel which meets the new standards.
To combat air pollution, the International Maritime
Organization (IMO), the United Nations' shipping agency, has set
global regulations to cap the sulphur content in marine fuel,
known as bunkers, at 0.5 percent, down from 3.5 percent now.
Shipowners can either install scrubbers, which clean the
cheaper high sulphur fuel oil, or buy costlier marine gasoil.
"Our conclusion for the moment is that it does not make
sense for Odfjell (to install scrubbers)," CEO Kristian Moerch
said at a oil and offshore conference on Thursday.
"First of all our fleet spends around 50 percent of its time
in ports, then scrubbers are pointless, and the second part is
that 60 percent of our revenues are covered by contracts with
our customers and they have bunker adjustment clauses," Moerch
said, referring to compensation for any rise in bunker prices.
He said he also thought this was the responsibility of the
oil industry.
"Fundamentally I really don't see why the shipping industry
should solve a problem the oil industry have.
"Everything comes back to if you believe this spread of $300
(of high sulphur fuel oil vs low sulphur fuel oil) will stay or
not," Moerch said.
Odfjell owns and operates in total 85 chemical tanker
vessels.
Whether to install scrubbers or not is a key issue in the
shipping industry ahead of new 2020 IMO fuel regulations and
Maersk said earlier today that they will invest in scrubbers on
some of its vessels. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VY522
(Reporting By Ole Petter Skonnord, editing by David Evans)
((olepetter.skonnord@thomsonreuters.com; 0047 23 31 65 97;))