Come next year half of Matson's core fleet will have scrubbers, with the potential for more.
The Hawaiian shipowner said on its third quarter conference call Monday that it is moving forward with two new scrubber installations on its China-Long Beach express ships, in addition to the one announced last quarter. The scrubbers come at a cost of $9m each with the work to be done next year.
Previously, the company had installed scrubbers on three ships in its Alaska service at a total cost of $27.7m.
Once all installations are complete, the company will have scrubbers on six of its 12 core vessels.
"We're going to continue to take a hard look at the remaining six vessels," said chief executive Matt Cox.
He added that there would continue to be a "strong economic case" for scrubbers, given their two-year payback spreads and their ability to allow Matson to buy the cheapest fuel, regardless of what the market looks like after 2020.
