Shipowners are reporting that their scrubber retrofit programmes are taking a lot longer than expected, reports Ship & Bunker.
Taking longer? How long?
Scrubber retrofit programmes are taking a longer time than expected, complains shipowners.
In some cases completion dates are pushing back until after January 1, 2020, the start date of the new IMO 2020 global 0.50% sulfur cap.
Few owners reporting delay
Among those reporting issues are:
Crude and product tanker owner Diamond S
Three scrubbers that had originally been scheduled for installation in Q4 of 2019 have now been officially moved to the first quarter of 2020.
CEO Craig H Stevenson, Jr said during the firm’s latest earnings call, the industry is just beginning to retrofit scrubbers on the world fleet, and installation getting delayed. Instead of being 25-30 days, it’s an additional 15 days longer than anticipated.
“It’s actually causing a backlog and will create further inefficiencies than we originally anticipated.”
Tanker industry specialists Alphatanker
Alphatanker said a number of non-publicly listed owners have also told the publication they are facing extended installation schedules.
While the full scale of the delays is not clear, it is nevertheless another factor adding to uncertainty over how many vessels will be fitted with scrubbers come January 1, 2020, and what and the resulting HFO demand will be next year.
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Source: Ship&Bunker
