MSC expects $2bn in annual fuel costs from new marine rules
The shipping line will introduce a bunker charge from next year to recoup losses incurred by switching to low-sulphur fuels
London — Swiss-headquartered MSC expects to pay over $2bn a year in fuel costs due to tougher global marine fuel rules and will introduce a bunker charge next year to recoup expenses, the world’s second-biggest container line said. The UN agency International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will prohibit ships from using fuels with sulphur content above 0.5% from January 1 2020, compared with 3.5% today, unless they are equipped with exhaust-gas cleaning systems, known as scrubbers, to clean up sulphur emissions. For shipping companies struggling from years of weaker earnings, the new regulations are expected to mean more cost pressure. “MSC has estimated that the cost of the various changes we are making to our fleet and its fuel supply is in excess of $2bn per year. We have already had to start incurring these costs to be ready for 2020,” the group said in a December 1 note. MSC said it would levy a bunker recovery charge from January 1, 2019 “as a result of the regulatory changes we ...
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