The global shipping industry is nervous when sulfur restriction comes<br>With less than three months to go before the new regulations of the International Maritime Organization's sulfur limitation order come into effect, it is expected that most ships in the global shipping industry will switch to qualified low sulfur fuel, and the operation cost will increase accordingly. But the price difference of high and low sulfur fuel is huge and difficult to predict, so choosing low sulfur fuel and desulfurization device is becoming the most difficult problem for shipowners.<br>S & P global Proctor expects that by 2020, most of the world's ships will operate on low sulfur fuel, which means that about 3 million barrels of high sulfur fuel will be replaced every day, and fuel prices are likely to rise. S & P global Platts believes that by next year, low sulfur fuel will be $240 more expensive than high sulfur fuel on average. By 2023, the price difference between the two fuels will gradually fall to $80 per ton.<br>On the other hand, KPI Bridge oil, an oil trading and brokerage company, predicts that fuel prices will rise by $160 to $180 per metric ton next year. By 2020, Deloitte expects that compliant low sulfur fuels will be $240 per metric ton higher than high sulfur fuels.<br>However, the price difference between high and low sulfur fuels varies greatly, and it is difficult to predict the actual cost and trend. The data shows that on September 6, 2019, the price of high sulfur fuel is 338 US dollars, and that of low sulfur fuel is 553 US dollars, with a price difference of 215 US dollars; however, on September 12, the price of high sulfur fuel is adjusted to 380 US dollars, while that of low sulfur fuel is reduced to 535 US dollars, with a price difference reduced to 155 US dollars. The cost of producing low sulfur fuel is more than $75 per ton higher than that of high sulfur fuel, according to oil traders. The difference of oil price determines whether the owner is willing to install desulfurization scrubber, and also affects the future cost recovery and amortization time.<br>Alixpartners, a global consultancy, said the rules could put eastbound shipping companies on Asia America routes and Asia Europe routes at risk. These routes together account for about 20% of the global volume, with an additional cost of up to $3 billion, which is expected to be borne by shippers and freight forwarders.<br>Lars Jensen, chief executive of seaintelligence consulting, stressed in March that the bill should be paid by the shipper and that no one else would pay for it. It is estimated that the sulfur restriction order will increase the cost of the whole transportation industry by about 10 billion to 15 billion US dollars annually, while in the past seven years, the total profit of the whole shipping industry is about 8 billion US dollars.<br>Some shipowners said that the price fluctuation of low sulfur oil market is too big to predict the results in the industry. Now shipowners are also facing the dilemma of whether to install scrubbers or use low sulfur oil. The fluctuation of low sulfur oil price will not tend to be stable until the end of the first quarter of 2020, and the future operating cost expenditure will increase accordingly.<br>Industry insiders predict that about 200 of the 5000 container ships will be equipped with exhaust scrubbers by 2020, and the remaining 96-97% will use low sulfur fuel or LNG. It is worth noting that the Panama Canal has also recently banned the use of open-loop scrubbers, while many regions and ports around the world have already banned the use of open-loop scrubbers.<br>(source: international ship network)<br>
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