Scorpio Unveils Scrubber Investment

Monaco-based shipowner Scorpio is going to invest heavily in the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) on board its ships to become compliant with the 0.5 sulphur limit on marine fuels entering into force on January 1, 2020.

The intention was confirmed in two separate regulatory filings of the same content submitted by both Scorpio Tankers and Scorpio Bulkers.

“The company has announced that management expects to retrofit the substantial majority of its vessels with exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers, to comply with the IMO 2020 rules regarding sulfur emissions by the end of the first half of 2020.  The company expects the aggregate capital investment of such retrofits to be material, but has not determined the exact costs or how such costs will be financed,” the two filings read.

In June 2018, Scorpio Tankers said that it was planning to meet the IMO’s sulphur cap by burning compliant fuels.

At the time, Scorpio was still evaluating scrubbers, but was not seeing a “compelling argument to install them today.”

Explaining its decision at the time Scorpio said that regulatory, technological, and supply/pricing risks were key factors in delaying its decision on scrubber installation.

“The demand and fuel-efficiency stories are more relevant to the product tanker segment than the yes/no scrubber decision,” the company added.

World Maritime News Staff