Oman Shipping Company (OSC) and Feen Marine have talked up the benefits of cheaper 'flat-pack' scrubber retrofits.
The manufacturer has completed installation of its exhaust cleaning units on six OSC VLCCs, with nine more to come by early November.
Scrubber economics have had something of a bad press in recent months after the price spread between high and low sulphur fuels narrowed.
But an official at the Oman shipowner told TradeWinds: "We have no problem with them. We're only fitting them on bigger vessels that burn between 60 and 80 tonnes of fuel per day.
"These scrubbers are plug-and-play - built in Batam, Indonesia, and brought in as flat-packs."
OSC sister shipyard Oman Drydock Company (ODC) then assembles and fits them.
Heavier kits made by rivals need a crane to move then on to the ship, but the Feen ones are up to 70% lighter.
The OSC executive said the cost and time of installation are reduced by more than a third.
Supply and installation comes in at around $2.5m per vessel, compared to between $5m and $6m for more complex designs
A control room is installed next to the scrubber box and there is no need to extend the funnel.
Cabling cut
This also reduces cabling from 18km to 4km.
"I want to praise ODC here," the OSC official said. "They've been brilliant. The cheaper and quicker the retrofit, the quicker the payback period for us."
He added the company has no further plans for scrubber retrofits.
Jan Fredrik Gulbrandsen, sales director at Feen Marine, said: "What separates these new scrubbers from the others in the market is the relatively low cost both for the equipment and the installation."
Bjornar Feen-owned Feen Marine produces more than 90% of the equipment internally, keeping costs down.
"Also as we are based in Batam we have very low costs both tax wise and for labour. We have only one owner so need for shareholders to take a cut of the profit," Gulbrandsen said.
