Scrubbers to be installed on 24% of global fleet by 2023

Two years ago, with the implementation of the IMO 2020 0.50% sulphur cap, exhaust gas cleaning systems were the talk of the town, with approximately 120 vessels per month being retrofit with scrubber technology.

Since then, scrubber retrofits have slowed considerably, averaging about one-sixth the level to about 20 per month as of March 2022, according to Clarksons Research.

Still, some 4,460 ships in the global fleet, by Clarksons’ count, have scrubbers, representing just over 23.0% of total gross tonnage.

Clarksons Research says: “Newbuild uptake [for scrubbers] grew slightly in 2021, with 249 newbuild orders for scrubber-fitted units reported across the full year, including 194 container ships”; this represents about 60% of the ships. Thus far this year, 14 scrubber-fitted vessels have been ordered. The current price differential between HSFO and VLSFO is almost US$300 per tonne, close to previous highs (Jan 2020: ~US$330 per tonne). We expect the share of global tonnage with a scrubber to grow marginally to 24.0% by start 2023,” says the UK ship broker.

Installing scrubbers allows shipowners to comply with current regulations, while benefitting from the price differential between high-sulphur fuel oil and very low-sulphur fuel oil.

“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the spread has again increased and now appears to have settled around US$200/tonne. In percentage terms, the VLSFO premium is still around 30%,” says BIMCO chief analyst Niels Rasmussen.

“The order demonstrates the commercial and technical viability of scrubbers in shipping’s complex decarbonisation landscape”

Mr Rasmussen notes that in absolute terms, the growing price spread translates into thousands of dollars of savings per day for ships sailing with a scrubber installed. 

“If this premium continues, charterers’ willingness to pay a premium for ships with a scrubber installed will surely increase accordingly,” he says.

World’s largest boxship fitted with scrubber

Ever Ace, the world’s largest container ship, became one of the latest vessels to enter service fitted with scrubber technology. Built and delivered in 2021 by South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), and owned by Evergreen Marine Corp, the 400 m Ever Ace is fitted with two Alfa Laval PureSOx scrubbers with a shared water cleaning system (WCS). This consolidated solution provides maximum reliability with a minimal footprint.
Cleaning to match 80 MW of engine power
Ever Ace is the first of 14 vessels planned for Evergreen’s record-breaking A Class, which comprises container vessels of nearly 24,000 TEU capacity. Six of the ultra-large container ships (ULCSs) were ordered at SHI, with the remaining eight split evenly between China’s Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhongua. Ever Ace’s propulsion power is supplied by a massive 11-cylinder WinGD 11X92-B main engine — the largest and most powerful two-stroke engine in WinGD’s portfolio. The main engine generates 58,600 kW at 79 rpm. Ever Ace also has five auxiliary engines of 4.5 MW each.
To clean the engines’ exhaust gas, Ever Ace has two PureSOx scrubbers on board – one for the main engine and one for the auxiliaries. As hybrid scrubbers, they can operate as either open- or closed-loop systems. Effective cleaning of the closed-loop circulation water is provided by a shared WCS, based primarily on high-speed centrifugal separation, explains Alfa Laval.