Speaking on the issue of open-loop scrubbers, Nick Confuorto, president and chief operations officer for CR Ocean Engineering, said that it is being propagated to scare people away from this technology.
He specifically noted that the number of ports that could ban open loop scrubbers ‘is just a drop in the ocean but is being overplayed as if it were the majority of ports’.
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In addition, commenting on the upcoming 2020 regulation, Mr. Confuorto said that there are two key issues right now: the price of fuel, and whether or not open loop scrubbers are acceptable.
The new 2020 regulation to reduce sulphur emissions from shipping represents a very positive environmental improvement for the maritime industry, however using lower sulphur fuels, or heavy fuels but with a scrubber in place, both represent a dramatic step change, and the question of what price ship owners will pay for this improvement if they chose not to deploy a scrubber solution won’t be known until January 2020
What is more, he explained that now it is already too late for ship owners to fit scrubbers in time for the January deadline. Namely, he mentioned that around 90% of all marine vessels, all those without a scrubber, will have to buy the new lower sulphur fuels at whatever price it is come January.
For this reason, companies are choosing scrubbers, in order to be ahead of the legislation, according to Mr. Confuorto.
However, for the shipping companies delaying to make a decision, the decision has already been made for them.
