To promote the installation of scrubber systems, Clean Marine Energy (CME) and[ds_preview] Wärtsilä team up to offer a funding concept, with returns taken from fuel price spread. As Wärtsilä informed, the financing solution, similar to those prevalent and proven in the building environment space, enabled ship owners to repay the cost of the installation via a fuel adder, i.e. a fuel premium on the price of HFO by which the ship owner repays the cost of installing the scrubber. This provided a return from the differential between Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and Marine Gasoil (MGO) for a period of four to six years, depending on price spreads. That way ship owners did not have the burden of meeting the up-front capital expenditure of between 3mill. $ and 12mill. $ per vessel, the company stated. This investment was often difficult to pass on to charterers, whereas with CME financing the fuel adder charge could be easily passed on until such time as the scrubber system was paid for. The concept therefore minimised the impact on the owner’s balance sheet, banking and security arrangements. CME and Wärtsilä could provide the financed installation and maintenance of a scrubber through CME’s Emissions Compliance Service Agreement (ECSA), they informed.
