The debate about scrubbers and upcoming environmental rules dominated much of the discussion at the latest Marine Money event in Greece, as is often the case at shipping-themed events these days.
Powerful and influential players such as Theodore Veniamis, head of the Union of Greek Shipowners, aired their views on the matter in front of about 400 delegates gathered at the Hilton hotel in central Athens last week for the 20th edition of Marine Money's Greek Ship Finance Forum.
The industry is being asked to cut carbon and other emissions within "very unrealistic time frames", major Greek shipowner George Procopiou told the conference. The only way to achieve those targets in time, he added, is to complement scrubbers and low-sulphur fuels with a globally enforceable regime of slow-steaming for commercial ships.
This measure alone could cut all carbon, sulphur, particle or nitrogen emissions "by 60% from day one", Procopiou said, citing results from a study by Athens Polytechnic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has yet to be published.
Charterers offer to pay
John Coustas, chief executive of containership player Danaos, said some charterers, who usually pay boxships' fuel bills, are offering to pay to have scrubbers installed on the vessels they employ.
However, he said very few charterers have jumped into large-scale scrubber installation, because they think there will be enough low-sulphur fuel oil around when new emission rules are enforced in 2020.
"They [charterers] believe they'll be able to pass the cost of the low-sulphur fuel oil on to the consumers. That's why everybody has started publishing new ways of calculating their bunker surcharges," Coustas said.
With Avic Financial Leasing featuring as main event sponsor, Chinese ship lending was another big item on the agenda. Major Greek player Capital Maritime & Trading revealed its first deal ever with a Chinese leasing house and senior executives of listed companies Seanergy Maritime and Top Ships explained their ship finance agreements in the Far East.
Organisers wrapped up a full day of talks and discussions with a cocktail sponsored by the Marshall Islands Registry, followed by Capital's traditional late-night party.
