It was reported yesterday in Sustainable Shipping that estimates of the compliant fuel premium are spiking within Emission Control Areas (ECA) at the beginning of next year. The current 10-20% premium paid for low sulphur fuel oil is to be rise to a 50-60% premium for distillates in January 2015, when the new lower limits come into force, and the article suggests that this could rise as high as 75-95% as demand increases. As we have suggested in this blog before, the logic behind these predictions is hard to deny, making the potential benefits of being able to continue to consume fuel oil and scrubbing the emissions to achieve compliance very attractive. The capital investment payback for fitting scrubbers is very compelling using the existing premium for distillate fuels over fuel oil and the “spike” in differentials early in 2015 will further shorten the capital investment payback on the technology based solution.
It is however true that in ship maintenance terms, January 2015 is very much “just around the corner” and we are now seeing a genuine sense of urgency amongst customers to get scrubbing equipment fitted as early as possible in 2015. As someone who has worked as both a buyer and a seller of services to the shipping industry, I approach the word “partnership” with a wry scepticism. This is not necessarily because the aspirations of partnering are always flawed, or because the desire of the parties is not to see it succeed, but rather because I have seen quite a few end up working in a way which no one intended at the outset. All of that said, this really is a time for ship operators, shipyards and technology providers to work together to successfully install as many scrubbers as possible in a tight timescale. The outcome is not about technology, but rather about compliance. We are hearing our customers ask for a solution which delivers them compliance in a cost effective way without getting bogged down in a confrontational and resource hungry project.
At Oceanox we have always felt that our job was not just to sell a piece of equipment, but rather to deliver a service which integrates into the ship owner’s compliance strategy. In this context the use of the word partnership is both justified and indeed necessary.