Dry bulk shipowners who have spent big money on exhaust gas scrubbers are happy with the forecasted price difference between IMO 2020 compliant and non-compliant fuels.
The forward market expects a $236 per tonne average cost spread for 2020 between very low-sulphur and high-sulphur fuel oils, six weeks before IMO limit ship exhaust's sulphur content to 0.5%.
High-sulphur IFO380 on Wednesday cost $353 per tonne on average, according to Ship & Bunker, while very low-sulphur oil was priced at $561 per tonne, making for a $208 per tonne difference.
"Even with the cost of our investment and the expected consumption of our vessels, we feel pretty comfortable with that spread," Star Bulk Carriers co-chief financial officer Christos Begleris told TradeWinds at Marine Money's 20th annual Ship Finance Forum in New York City.
Star Bulk Carriers is spending $175m on retrofitting 102 ships with scrubbers by 2020.
Deutsche Bank in October predicted that the Greek owner may make as much as $300m off the price spread through its scrubber programme.
Gary Vogel-led Eagle Bulk Shipping, which will spend $83m on retrofitting 37 out of its 46 ships with scrubbers, has hedged against any loss by buying 10% of its expected 2020 fuel use at $240 per metric tonne on the forward market.
"We believe it'll be a good return on the assumption we've made," chief executive Gary Vogel told TradeWinds.
"We'll see how it goes."
