Shipowner DHT to retrofit scrubbers on 12 VLCCs

  • 03/07/18

New York-listed tanker owner DHT Holdings will install exhaust gas scrubbers on just over half of its very large crude carrier (VLCC) fleet in time for the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) 2020 low-sulphur fuel limit.

DHT Holdings will retrofit the scrubbers onto 12 of its 25 VLCCs, and has two newbuild 2mn bl tankers — the DHT Bronco and DHT Mustang — due for delivery later this quarter with scrubbers already installed.

The shipowner has secured shipyard capacity to install all 12 of the scrubber systems in 2019 and will retrofit its VLCCs "built between 2012 and 2004, the part of the fleet that stands to achieve the greatest economic benefit."

The rest of DHT Holdings' VLCC fleet comprises modern vessels built between 2012-2018, and those tankers — which are likely to be relatively fuel-efficient — will have to burn compliant fuel after 1 January 2020. In addition, the fleet also includes two Aframax tankers.

DHT Holdings will source the retrofit scrubbers from UK firm Alfa Laval, which produces a closed-loop system.

New York- and Oslo-listed Frontline — another large, non-state owned tanker owner — recently confirmed that it plans to retrofit a portion of its tanker fleet with scrubbers in preparation for the 2020 sulphur limits. The firm took a stake in Singapore-based Feen Marine Scrubbers in order to be able to order a large number of systems, as it believes availability could tighten as the 2020 deadline approaches.

Frontline Management chief executive Robert Macleod estimated a VLCC with a scrubber could save up to $16,000/d, or $5-6m/year on fuel expenditure.This is based on a $350/t spread between 0.5pc sulphur fuel oil and high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) in 2020.

The IMO ruled in 2016 that from 2020 vessels must limit the sulphur content of exhaust fumes to 0.5pc from a current level of 3.5pc. Scrubbers will allow ships to continue to burn HSFO after the deadline. Ships can also convert to LNG or switch to lower-sulphur fuels to comply. But there is still widespread uncertainty over the composition, compatibility, availability and cost of IMO 2020-compliant fuels.

So far scrubber uptake has been relatively slow in the tanker sector. Earlier this year industry body managing director Intertanko Katharina Stanzel said that less than 50 tankers already had scrubbers installed. But the exhaust-cleaning systems are easier to retrofit onto larger vessels, particularly VLCCs, where they offer better value than on smaller ships. And that tanker class typically sticks to regular routes between major ports, so the continued availability of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) from 2020 onwards is less of a concern.


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