The New York-listed shipowner said it inked a contract with Clean Marine to install scrubbers on seven VLCCs in its fleet, with an option for a further three systems, covering all 10 modern VLCCs in the company’s fleet.
The seven scrubbers on firm contract will all be fitted prior to the enforcement of the IMO’s global 0.5% sulphur cap on 1 January 2020.
“Following significant economic analysis and evaluation of different systems, we are pleased to have executed contracts to install scrubbers on a large portion of our VLCC fleet,” said Lois Zabrocky, president and ceo of International Seaways. “We believe that by installing scrubbers on our largest ships, we will gain an economic advantage while further demonstrating a commitment to the environment as we did with our recent acquisition of highly efficient VLCCs.”
Given the expected price spread between high sulphur fuel oil, that can be burned using scrubbers, versus low sulphur fuel oil the payback period for scrubbers on large vessels could be as low as nine months.
Read more: Scrubber numbers surge to 1,262, but not a solution for all shipowners
International Seaways also sees potential market opportunities from having vessels fitted with scrubbers. “In addition to being well positioned to capitalize on a market recovery based on International Seaways’ sizeable high-quality fleet, our scrubber initiative also strengthens the company’s ability to take advantage of a potential strong tanker market resulting from the IMO regulations, as both crude and product tankers stand to benefit from increased transportation demand,” Zabrocky said.
Read more: Sulphur cap could be golden opportunity for shipowners
The cost of the scrubbers was not revealed and the company said they would be funded from internal liquidity.
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