Low sulfur marine fuel, or scrubber strategy?

With uncertainty in the Low Sulfur Marine Fuel supply chain, many owners are turning to scrubbers.

This interesting article discusses uncertainty in the low sulfur fuel chain that exists today. In January 2020, the International Maritime Organization global cap on sulfur emissions comes into force. Owners must have in place a fuel strategy that they can confidently comply with the regulation. Having a strategy to use low sulfur fuel below 0.5% could be a risky strategy with the fuel supply chain uncertainty that exists today. Using the Alfa Laval PureSOx scrubber solution for open loop, closed loop and hybrid is onboard makes sense to be able to use existing fuels with global specifications and lower cost in a successful strategy to meet the new regulation with complete confidence.

A short extract of the full article follows:

... A study by CE Delft, commissioned by the IMO in 2016 before it decided to cap the sulfur limit, shows demand for less-than 0.5% sulfur marine fuel will equal about 233 million mt/year when the rule takes effect in 2020.

Refiners are working on new products to meet the standard, but they won’t be ready to talk specifics any time soon.

Uncertainty over what’s to come still has many in the shipping industry wondering what happens next.

Will non-compliance be widespread?

What is the viability of LNG bunkering as an alternative in the short term?

How many shipowners will carry on as usual using fuel oil and installing scrubbers to clean emissions on board?

It’s thought the majority of shipowners will switch to a new 0.5% sulfur fuel, but refineries around the world are likely to take a wide range of approaches in choosing blending components to meet the new standard. The sulfur content is the only chemical property of these new fuels that have been confirmed...

Read the full article on platts.com.