As IMO’s 2020 global sulfur limit comes into force, countries have taken active steps toward compliance, and upstream and downstream companies in the industry have also made preparations and plans. Research shows that there will three major changes to the consumption of marine fuel:

(1) Switch to low sulfur fuel oil (less than 0.50% m/m in sulfur content) or marine gas oil (MGO). Low sulfur heavy marine fuel is all-in-all the most economical and widely used solution at present. While this fuel is more expensive to produce (and therefore more costly to run on), it can be used in most ships today without additional or modified equipment.

(2) Installation of an exhaust gas cleaning system (“scrubber”) in ships, so that they can still use marine fuels with sulfur content no higher than 3.50% m/m. Ship owners need to weigh the savings from the use of cheaper high sulfur fuels against the investment in additional equipment and the issue of disposing of the wastewater and other desulfurization-related liquid wastes. At present, countries and regions including China, the United States, Singapore, Germany, Belgium, Norway, and United Arab Emirates have expressly prohibited ships on international voyages from discharging, in their territorial waters, washwater from open-loop scrubbers, while countries including Japan and South Africa still allow it.

(3) Conversion to alternative energies such as liquefied natural gas (LNG). While LNG is an option, currently there are very few ocean-going ships capable of using it as fuel. Furthermore, the lack of resupply facilities and the high cost of LNG are also challenges that need to be overcome。

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