Operating a seagoing vessel is expensive and, according to international accountant Moore Stephens, which recently carried out a survey of vessel operating costs, rising fuel costs and ever-tighter regulations to limit sulfur emissions mean that this trend is set to continue.
US and European Emission Control Areas (ECAs) limiting sulpur to 0.1% come into force in 2015 (see Regulating the seas). Distillate fuels such as marine gas oil (MGO) have lower emissions than conventional high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO). But those vessels that continue to operate on distillate fuels in ECAs will see their costs jump, since distillate fuels cost around 45% more than HSFO. Increasing demand for MGO in the face of legislation will only serve to further push up prices post 2015.
“The regulators want a clean and safe shipping industry, and it is the industry itself, which includes a significant number of older vessels, that will have to underwrite the budget needed to achieve compliance,” says Moore Stephens’ Shipping Partner, Richard Greiner.
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