Shipowners that plan to burn high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) with exhaust gas scrubbers in North America may want to have a talk with their fuel suppliers.
While more expensive low-sulphur fuel oil be should in plentiful supply, the cheaper bunkers may be available only at the continent's larger bunkering facilities, according to a Lloyd's Register official.
"The bigger question is the availability of low-sulphur fuel oil," Tim Wilson, principal marine consultant engineer, told TradeWinds at the Connecticut Maritime Association's Shipping 2019 conference in Stamford, Connecticut.
He said the larger ports may carry the fuel because they have the storage capacity — but only if there are enough shipowners looking to buy it.
"Smaller ports may well decide not to have it," he said.
"If you have a scrubber, it's important to talk to your suppliers and tell them how much you plan to have and where you plan to trade."
Refineries in Houston, New York and the West Coast are more than happy to carry the fuel as long as they can sell it to avoid hefty storage costs, he said.
"I want something I can sell, and I know I can sell 0.5%," he said.
He said about 2,000 ships are expected to burn HSFO with scrubbers post-IMO 2020, requiring a demand of only 50 million tonnes a year out of 250 million tonnes of total burnt fuels.
"If you're putting scrubbers on ships, you need to be looking at your supply chain and communicate what you need," he said.
