The scrubber market is ready for a rebound as suppliers anticipate promising quicker installations and new technologies, says an article published in Riviera Maritime Media.
Scrubbers an attractive investment
Based on various factors, scrubbers can be an attractive investment for shipowners for emissions compliance. Few factors listed are:
- equipment price,
- installation cost,
- how many days a ship sails within an emissions control area,
- the price differential between HFO and MGO,
- fuel consumption,
- engine load, etc.
Scrubbers ready for uptick
In the recent past, the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price wars eroded the business case for scrubbers.
Now suppliers believe that once the pandemic is under control, orders for scrubbers will rebound.
Turnaround time & technology
When scrubbers uptick, the industry is expected to be equipped with:
- shorter turnaround times,
- more advanced technologies, and
- improved installation processes.
About cost differentials
- CR Ocean president’s comment
CR Ocean president Nick Confuorto says, the price war between oil producers caused the cost differential between heavy fuel oil (HFO) and compliant fuel to narrow at the beginning of 2020.
Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit replaced the price war by a poor supply and demand balance.
There One-two punch
“We were hit by a one-two punch that the scrubber market has yet to recover from,” says Mr Confuorto.
“However, once Covid is conquered, I believe the fuel pricing difference will return and therefore the driver for scrubbers will once more lead to new orders,” he says.
Good year ahead for scrubbers
He added saying scrubber industry has had a very poor 2020, but there are still many good years ahead once the pandemic is under control.
- Yara Marine director of sales comment
Yara Marine director of sales and public affairs Kai Låtun says there is a “huge backlog” of scrubber orders.
Mr Låtun says, “Order intake for next year is the big worry.”
- Panasia team leader’s comment
Panasia team leader for strategic planning James Seungha Han says there are several reasons why the scrubber market will rebound.
VLSFO issues
He says once Covid is under control and ship traffic rebounds, engine problems faced with VLSFO will need to be addressed.
Current price spread
Further, today’s price spread of US$60 in Asian bunker points is unrealistic. “Nobody knows which way it will go.
Scrubber payback
Last year the spread was more than US$200,” he says, adding, “I would say US$120 spread is normal and scrubbers can pay back in two to three years at that price spread.”
- Alfa Laval sales director’s comments
Alfa Laval sales director for exhaust gas cleaning systems Steven Pieters contends, however, scrubbers still offer a business case for vessels with high fuel consumption.
Container freight rates
Container freight rates are higher and container ships are busy transporting goods for the holiday season.
Freight cost is covering the price of VLSFO, says Mr Han.
Ships at maximum speeds
But that market will open up too after the season, believes Mr Han, because ships fitted with powerful engines are intended to run at maximum speeds.
Fuel consumption will be high, and a more “realistic” price spread will lead to shipowners reconsidering scrubbers, Mr Han says.
Continuing scrubber retrofits
While ship newbuild orders are at a historical low, scrubber retrofits are continuing at shipyards. This shows improvements in installation times based on experience.
Installation delays
Delays were common during scrubber installations in the run up to IMO 2020, Mr Låtun points out.
Delays at a shipyard are critical, increasing a vessel’s downtime; if a vessel is not operating, it is not making an owner money.
Lesson from the past
Mr Låtun says, one lesson learned, is that spares need to be kept at the shipyard in case of damage.
The other important areas are:
- communication through daily co-ordination meetings,
- ensuring stakeholders are on the same page – leaving no room for finger-pointing.
“Since language can be an issue, using pictures to show how a job should be executed helps,” he adds.
Shipyards speeding up
Those delays, however, seem to have been addressed through lessons learned.
Mr Låtun says, “Shipyards have come to speed. They now know scrubbers. An open-loop installation including sea trials can be finished in 16 days.”
“Delays are rare.”
Maintenance & calibration
Fragility of the instrumentation has been a problem and CEMS maintenance and calibration on board have been other issues, says Mr Confuorto.
He says during 2019-2020, shipyards have significantly improved their scrubber installations capabilities.
“Additionally, we started to supply remote monitoring of the system operation,” says Mr Confuorto.
Avoiding corrosion
Corrosion has not been as much of an issue as was feared, says Mr Låtun.
- Drain lines can be made from glass reinforced epoxy and
- the overboard outlet has to be especially corrosion-resistant.
Yara Marine recommendations:
Overboard be well aft of intake and an elliptical area of 1 m by 2 m be covered with glass fibre flake to protect the hull since the discharge water has a very low pH.
“We recommend that the words ‘Do not blast’ be painted in big bold in that area so the fibre protection is not blasted away in the next drydock,” he adds.
Mr Låtun emphasises on a common work plan from the three stakeholders – the integrator, who is the redesigner, installer and vendor.
Open-loop PureSOx System
Offering ease of installation, Alfa Laval introduced the PureSOx Express in June, says Mr Pieters. This is an open-loop PureSOx system, but one delivered as a fully enclosed module.
Adapted for a simple and cost-efficient fit on smaller vessels, it reduces the investment cost, engineering time and physical work of installing a SOx scrubber.
It can be lifted on board and connected without a specialised scrubber team, says Alfa Laval, which means less work at the shipyard and an installation time of just 10 to 14 days.
Installing scrubbers and BWTS at the same time
It has become a common practice to install ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) along with a scrubber when the ship goes to the yard to cut cost and downtime.
“The most important element is space availability if the owner wants to install a BWTS and scrubber together,” says Mr Han.
If a vessel is more than 15 years old, it would not have been designed with a BWTS in mind. If the scrubber is to be installed in addition, the owner should consider:
- stability impact,
- inclined test, and
- other naval architecture aspects like LWT, VCG, LCG and so on.
If the above changes are not considered and discussed, a panic situation may arise during installation, cautions Mr Han.
The pandemic has taught the importance of offering remote service and local presence, says Mr Pieters, pointing to Alfa Laval’s global network. Flying in skilled engineers to yards is now a problem for scrubber suppliers. Having local talent in their ranks has been useful, says Panasia’s Mr Han.
Operation and maintenance
Regarding operation and maintenance, Mr Låtun says ship staff are quite well versed with routine maintenance on scrubber systems. In addition, sensors in gas analysis and water quality assessment need to be changed every year. When port state control calls, ship staff need to be able to demonstrate they have been compliant.
Scrubber operation is automatic, but the manual mode may be needed when carrying out maintenance on the pumps.
“Covid has introduced a complexity in that crew change is done very quickly and there is not much time for a proper handover,” says Mr Låtun.
Using wet scrubbers to reduce emissions in port
Chairman of the Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association Don Gregory says in a Covid world, ports, harbours and port authorities remain behind the curve on improving local air quality.
“There is simply a lack of priority in tackling pollution sources in their jurisdictions,” says Mr Gregory. “As studies proceed on the cohorts most impacted by Covid 19 and those groups who when catching the disease often suffer fatal consequences, it is becoming apparent that a history of poor air quality is a major if not defining key causal factor.”
Mr Gregory adds “The question becomes what are the quick wins that ports can implement to reduce air pollution? Well one that has been handed to them on a plate thanks to IMO Marpol Annex VI regulation 4 is the use of wet scrubbers to not only reduce the emission of sulphur oxides, but also the emissions of fine particles related to fuel combustion and cylinder oil. Some recent data shows that not only do scrubbers reduce (but not yet eliminate) toxic compounds entering the atmosphere, the toxicity of the scrubbed gas is somewhat less than those ships that switch to low sulphur fuels to meet the requirements of regulation 14 of the same Marpol Annex.”
He says “Instead of ports denying the use of wet scrubbers in ports, the science indicates that using scrubbers provides a really quick win in terms of reduced toxicity in the air of the port and an overall well to wake reduced CO2 footprint.”
Ports have focused on open-loop scrubbers as bad actors, contends Mr Gregory. “They have cited that the use of open-loop scrubbers can result in deposits in the port area sediments making the disposal of future dredging materials more difficult.”
But Mr Gregory contends this is not borne out by studies. He says the Port of Rotterdam Authority has probably had the longest experience of the use of open-loop scrubbers with discharge into the port waters. “Their extensive studies have not indicated cumulative harm from scrubber operations which started in the late 1960s,” he adds.
Wash water treatment systems
As far as restrictions on wash water discharge by ports is concerned, for Panasia, it is a potential market. As a supplier of wash water treatment systems and hybrid scrubbers, it expects a new retrofit market to come up, especially if IMO mandates are put in place. In such cases, wash water treatment systems will be retrofitted to existing open-loop scrubbers of other suppliers. Mr Han says 10% of open-loop scrubbers may be retrofitted with a wash water treatment system.
Mr Confuorto says a backend water filtering system could be a solution and points to a partnership that CR Ocean has forged with Oberlin Filter.
With the risk of wash water discharge restrictions, it pays to install hybrid-ready open-loop systems, says Mr Pieters.
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Source: Riviera Maritime Media
