Below, we link to two articles published by Ship & Bunker where Nick Confuorto, CR Ocean Engineering’s President and Chief Operations Officer, discusses the effectiveness of marine exhaust gas scrubbers and their economic benefits in light of the 2020 new caps on sulfur emissions.
Scrubbers are one step ahead of current regulations, Mr. Confuorto stated on December 5.
“We are presently removing more sulfur than the present regulations and we are also removing much of the soot and the unburned oil which are not yet regulated,” he said. “If the future regulations evolve, they will only catch up with what scrubbers are already doing now.”
On December 6, Confuorto discusses the economic benefits Scrubbers as compliance solutions explaining that they make a lot of economic sense as low sulfur fuel costs can become a highly expensive proposition once the new limits come into effect
“Of course there is an initial cost and clients need to evaluate the payback for each installation. If an old vessel only has a few years left of active life, then a decision has to be made as to whether the payback is short enough to make sense. It will all come down to economics.
“I think the mistake most companies make is that they underestimate the cost of low sulfur fuel in 2020. I believe it will cost significantly more than the high sulfur fuel presently being used.
“At such high differential even a few remaining years for a vessel can make sense and produce overall savings.”
Bunker Regulations Will Only Follow “What Scrubbers are Already Doing”
