MPC Container Ships signed agreements for the purchase of five scrubbers. They will be retrofitted on five vessels within the company’s fleet before 1 January 2020, which is the implementation date of the new sulphur emission cap regulation.
The agreement also includes the purchase of scrubbers for up to 50 more vessels, enabling further installations in both 2019 and early 2020.
The Company will be carefully evaluating further scrubber installations, on a vessel by vessel basis, and exercise further options in due course
MPC Container Ships said that it sees significant interest from charterers for vessels with scrubbers and is in negotiations with charterers for mid- to longer-term charter parties.
In the meantime, the company is also evaluating additional charters and seeks to leverage the high optionality of its scrubber agreements.
CEO Constantin Baack mentioned:
Having conducted thorough analyses on the subject, we are excited about the opportunity to retrofit selected vessels with scrubbers as an economically attractive alternative of complying with the 2020 sulphur regulations
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The interest regarding scrubbers is high nowadays. In fact, recently the danish shipping company TORM established a joint venture with scrubber manufacturer ME Production and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI), which is part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation group, to manufacture scrubbers to reduce sulphur emissions in respect of the IMO 2020 limit.
Until now, a large number of companies have opted for scrubbers. Namely, Maersk will add scrubbers to some of its ships, despite announcing last February that it would choose low sulphur fuel oil.
DFDS will also install scrubbers on 12 freight ferries on routes in the Mediterranean. Another company that chose scrubbers is Safe Bulkers. The company will install scrubbers in about half of its fleet, comprising five Kamsarmax vessels, thirteen Post-Panamax vessels and a Capesize vessel.
Maran Tankers will also install scrubbers on 13 vessels until 2020. Furthermore, Golden Ocean Group will install scrubbers on 16 Capesize vessels with options for 9 more, while Eagle Bulk Shipping will purchase up to 37 scrubbers.
Additionally, Japanese ONE sees low-sulphur fuel oil as the most viable option, with Jinhui Shipping and Transportation also believing that low sulphur fuel oil will be more beneficial.
Nevertheless, Euronav has stated that it considers scrubbers as a loop hole, which will make the sulphur cap even more complex. This is an opinion that Odfjell seems to share, as it announced that it will not invest in scrubbers, as this technology ‘does not make sense’.