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Scrubbers lose out against low sulphur fuel in HK panel discussion
来源：shippingazette.com 编辑：编辑部 发布：2017/11/28 09:19:06
SCRUBBERS and low sulphur fuels squared off in a panel discussion at the recent Asian Logistics and Maritime Conference in Hong Kong and low sulphur fuel appeared to have the best of it.
While the panel mostly agreed that scrubbers, despite their immediate short term advantage, are not promising in the long-term, but they were still needed to keep the industry competitive.
Yet London tanker operator Navig8 chief operating officer Andrew Hoare noted that bunker demand has increased, while its sale to power stations had fallen, which meant the price of fuel relevant to scrubbers will also fall.
"The refining sector is going to have to sell this fuel oil and no better place to sell it than to the biggest customer they have already," said Mr Hoare.
And with scrubber costs coming down, the argument for cheap bunker use remains strong, said Mr Hoare.
"It's an opportunity for shipping and a huge problem for the refining business because at the end of the day residual fuel oil is going to be produced," he said.
But his was a minority view. Valles Steamship executive director Wellington Koo said: "I think for us as shipowners, I would say no to scrubbers for the meantime."
He maintained that the refiners should be held to their pledge to provide sufficient amounts of low sulphur fuel and the additional cost of this would be written into new contracts with charterers.
Japan's Ocean Network Express (ONE) CEO Jeremy Nixon said there was an agreement among shipowners that scrubbers took up a lot of space and were expensive to retrofit.
Alan Murphy, CEO of Copenhagen's SeaIntel Maritime Analysis, said container lines are taking a "wait and see approach" but "almost no-one was investing scrubbers", reported Colchester's Seatrade Maritime News.
London's Clarkson Research president Martin Stopford suggested that the refining industry would react quickly to the challenge of providing low sulphur fuel oil and that the competitive advantage of using scrubbers might not last long.
Frankfurt's DVB Bank Asia-Pacific vice president Domenik Nizet said that apart from the bank being reluctant to finance fitting scrubbers, the problem was whether they were needed at all.
While the panel mostly agreed that scrubbers, despite their immediate short term advantage, are not promising in the long-term, but they were still needed to keep the industry competitive.
Yet London tanker operator Navig8 chief operating officer Andrew Hoare noted that bunker demand has increased, while its sale to power stations had fallen, which meant the price of fuel relevant to scrubbers will also fall.
"The refining sector is going to have to sell this fuel oil and no better place to sell it than to the biggest customer they have already," said Mr Hoare.
And with scrubber costs coming down, the argument for cheap bunker use remains strong, said Mr Hoare.
"It's an opportunity for shipping and a huge problem for the refining business because at the end of the day residual fuel oil is going to be produced," he said.
But his was a minority view. Valles Steamship executive director Wellington Koo said: "I think for us as shipowners, I would say no to scrubbers for the meantime."
He maintained that the refiners should be held to their pledge to provide sufficient amounts of low sulphur fuel and the additional cost of this would be written into new contracts with charterers.
Japan's Ocean Network Express (ONE) CEO Jeremy Nixon said there was an agreement among shipowners that scrubbers took up a lot of space and were expensive to retrofit.
Alan Murphy, CEO of Copenhagen's SeaIntel Maritime Analysis, said container lines are taking a "wait and see approach" but "almost no-one was investing scrubbers", reported Colchester's Seatrade Maritime News.
London's Clarkson Research president Martin Stopford suggested that the refining industry would react quickly to the challenge of providing low sulphur fuel oil and that the competitive advantage of using scrubbers might not last long.
Frankfurt's DVB Bank Asia-Pacific vice president Domenik Nizet said that apart from the bank being reluctant to finance fitting scrubbers, the problem was whether they were needed at all.