News

CIMAC Can't Explain Fuel Problem

06 December 2018

The International Council on Combustion Engines (CIMAC) has released a statement on marine fuel incidents that have occurred this year highlighting that it is unable to draw any firm conclusions about the cause of the problems. CIMAC Working Group Fuels – WG7 – made the statement after the unusually large number of ships that experienced fuel-related problems with seemingly on-spec fuels earlier this year.

In anticipation of upcoming Sulphur Cap 2020 legislation, a number of Shipowners contracted Albion Marine Solutions to carry engineering studies. The purpose is to evaluate fleet readiness and recommend measures required to ensure safety compliance.

Fuel Incident Report

Behavioral Competency Assessment and Verification for Vessel Operations Issued

02 December 2018

Albion Marine Solutions personnel have many years of experience in operation, construction and retrofits of various types of vessels, that's why the Behavioral Competency Assessment and Verification for Vessel Operations Issued jointly by the Oil Companies International Marine and INTERTANKO is an important document for our company.

More info: https://www.ocimf.org/media/112105/Behavioural-Competency-Assessment-and-Verification.pdf

Ship operating costs expected to rise in 2018 and 2019

05 November 2018

Total vessel operating costs in the shipping industry are expected to rise by 2.7% in 2018 and by 3.1% in 2019, according to a survey conducted by Richard Greiner for Moore Stephens UK.

The Future Operating Costs Survey revealed that drydocking is the cost category likely to increase most significantly in both 2018 and 2019, accompanied in the latter case by repairs and maintenance. The cost of drydocking is expected to increase by 2.1% in 2018 and by 2.3% in 2019, while expenditure on repairs and maintenance is predicted to rise by 2.0% in 2018 and by 2.3% in 2019. The increase in expenditure for lubricants is expected to be 1.9% in 2018 and 2.1% in 2019.

Meanwhile, projected increases in spares are 1.9% and 2.2% in the two years under review, while those for stores are 1.6% and 1.9% respectively.

The survey also revealed that the outlay on crew wages is expected to increase by 1.3% in 2018 and by 1.9% in 2019, with other crew costs thought likely to go up by 1.5% in 2018 and by 1.8% in 2019.

The cost of hull and machinery insurance is predicted to rise by 1.3% and 1.6% in 2018 and 2019 respectively, while for protection and indemnity insurance the projected increases are 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.

Management fees, meanwhile, are expected to increase by1.0% in 2018, and by 1.2% in 2019. The predicted overall cost increases were once again highest in the offshore sector, where they averaged 4.1% and 4.2% respectively for 2018 and 2019. By way of contrast, predicted cost increases in the bulk carrier sector were 1.8% and 2.6% for the corresponding years. Operating costs for tankers, meanwhile, are expected to rise by 2.4% in 2018, and by 2.9% the following year, while the corresponding figures for container ships are 4.2% and 3.8%.

Full Survey report: https://www.moorestephens.co.uk/MediaLibsAndFiles/media/MooreStephensUK/Images/DPS41806-Future-Operating-Costs-Survey-2018_v2.pdf?ext=.pdf

MEPC 73rd Session

04 November 2018

The MEPC approved the Programme of follow-up actions of the initial IMO strategy on the reduction of GHG emissions from ships up to 2023. The programme of action is intended to be used as a planning tool in meeting the timelines identified in the initial IMO strategy, which was adopted in April 2018. The Committee invited concrete proposals on candidate short-term measures to the next Committee session, MEPC 74 (May 2019), for consideration, as well as on the procedure for assessing the impacts on States. Albion Marine Solutions supports the outcomes of the IMO MEPC.73 session.

No time to install scrubbers before 2020

31 October 2018

Shipowners need to plan and budget for 2020 Sulphur cap compliance. Most of vessels on international trade will require some degree of upgrades to their machinery and system. Albion Marine is being busy with preparation of upgrade engineering plans for a number of reputable shipowners.

Regulatory bodies around the world are trying to address the impacts 2020 Sulphur cap would have post implementation. New challenges and issues are emerging as the date is coming closer. With 15 months left to implementation, there is no time now to plan for the installation of Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems to meet the regulations right from January 2020. Most shipowners have no choice but to choose low sulphur fuel oil to comply, hoping the suppliers will deliver.

Some believed that the date of implementation might get delayed while some wanted to see what the ‘competitors’ are going to do. The silence from the refineries and the bunker suppliers did not help either, but it is safe to say that the expected demand of low sulphur fuel will not be matched in 2020.

Considering the time at hand, only a minor percentage of shipowners will have scrubbers installed onboard their vessels by January 2018.

Scrubbers have been termed as ‘outdated technology’ and many articles have concluded that scrubbers might not even be required in the long run. All these conclusions are based on assumptions that the alternate fuels will be made available in abundance within 1-2 years from the date of implementation. It is time for the shipowners to review their strategy and spare a thought to a possibility that scrubbers might be the best solution for next half a decade