Owners installing more scrubbers despite months of weak fuel spreads
- Average VLSFO-HSFO fuel spread has been under $100 per tonne for the past four months; in March the average spread fell to lowest level since November 2020, during the pandemic
- There were 166 more pending scrubber installations on June 1 than on February 1, according to data from Clarksons
- Continued rise in scrubber orders is being driven by tanker and containership newbuild contracts, as well as bulker and containership retrofits
The buoyant newbuilding market has equated to even more scrubber installations, but there is also a surprisingly high number of retrofits planned, even as fuel spreads languish at low levels
