Stena Bulk invests USD55m in scrubbers

“We evaluated the different options and concluded that, for our business, installing scrubbers would secure greater availability of fuel for our vessels and limit our exposure to the risk of not finding the right fuel around the world,” said President & CEO Erik Hånell.

The ship owner estimates that the payback time for the investment is between 1.5 and 2.5 years and notes that this has already been secured by hedging the fuel spread.

The open-loop systems will be installed ‘hybrid-ready’, enabling Stena to upgrade them to hybrid or closed-loop scrubbers later if required – for example if ports restrict open-loop operation as some predict. The scrubbers feature water cleaning and remove particulate matter as well as sulphur from the exhaust.

Stena Bulk has spent two years preparing to minimise potential disruption after the introduction of the IMO global sulphur cap on 1 January 2020. The shipowner’s digital platform, Orbit, Orbit, will be display global supply to optimize the planning of our bunker operations, to support the company’s Commercial Operation, Bunker trading and Chartering teams.

Bluesoul was the first Chinese enterprise to be awarded Lloyd’s Register Exhaust Gas Cleaning System Machinery General Design Appraisal as well as approvals in principle from DNV GL and ABS.