Top shipmanager warns on spiralling costs of scrubber maintenance
Had 30 refineries around the world spent $1bn each years ahead of the global sulphur cap the issue would have been dealt with at source, rather than risking the potential $200bn bill shipping might have to pay in the run up to – and enforcement of – the IMO’s crackdown on bunker fuels. That was the view of Bjørn Højgaard, CEO of shipmanagement giant Anglo-Eastern at last week’s Maritime CEO Forum held in Hong Kong. Højgaard used the forum’s special 2020 Vision panel as a platform to elaborate on earlier comments he had made describing installing scrubbers as “insane”.
For those who choose to install scrubbers, Højgaard warned they are sensitive pieces of equipment sitting in the hostile, hot and acidy environment of a ship’s funnel.
“There are going to be plenty more maintenance issues than people expect,” Højgaard told the exclusive shipowner gathering. He went to recount how one car carrier owner he knows had budgeted $10,000 a year in scrubber maintenance per ship. In the first year alone that owner had to spend $100,000 in scrubber maintenance per ship.
To view Højgaard’s full thoughts on the shipping’s scrubber conundrum check out the video below.
The Maritime CEO Forum in Hong Kong was sponsored by Anglo-Eastern, Cobham, Compas, Dualog, DVB, Liberian Registry, Marlink and Transas. The next edition of the forum will be in Singapore in April 2019.
