Safe Bulkers completes scrubber installations on 18 vessels

Greek dry bulk shipping firm Safe Bulkers says it had installed scrubbers on 18 of its 42 bulkers by 22 July.

The company has five more vessels scheduled to be fitted with scrubbers this month, meaning that over half of its fleet will be able to burn HSFO, which was priced at record discounts to VLSFO in Singapore and other ports last month.

Singapore's HSFO-VLSFO - Hi5 - spread widened to all-time highs of more than $570/mt in the second half of July, partly on the back of rallying Brent values, and partly as VLSFO supply was acutely tight for prompt dates.

Its Hi5 spread has now narrowed to $357/mt, or around where it was right after the global 0.50% sulphur cap was implemented on 1 January 2020.

Data from shipping classification society DNV suggests that scrubber orders keep on rising in a boost to HSFO demand. DNV has registered a total of 4,727 ships that are either fitted with scrubbers or scrubbers on order this year, up by 177 from last year.