12/11/2019

Shipping analyst Alphaliner expects that by January 2020 almost 6% of the world’s containerships, representing more than 10% of the global containership capacity, will be fitted with scrubbers so that they can continue to use High-Sulphur OIL (HFO).

212 vessels with a total capacity of 1.70M TEU already have scrubbers installed, while 101 vessels are currently at shipping yards to be fitted with scrubbers.

Carriers expect that the cost for installation and downtime (on average a vessel is out of rotation for 59 days for scrubber installation) is well woth it due to the current spread between the cost of HFO over Low-Sulphur Fuel Oil (LSFO).

In the end the development of the fuel markets will show if this move was really a wise decision. Carriers definitely bet on the price spread between the fuel types to remain high for the foreseeable future.

Please follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.