UK based ship management company, Newport Shipping, says that ship efficiency should remain just as important in a bearish oil market as it does when shipowners have to pay extortionate amounts for heavy fuel oil.
And it said there are other benefits in efficient shipping too because when crude oil prices are low shipowners can benefit more from emission saving technologies.
Hakan Ozcan, chief financial officer, Ecoships, the technical ship management arm of Newport, said: “With crude oil prices at their lowest since April 2009, the temptation is to put your foot on the gas and speed up a bit but this is not the way forward. When oil prices are low shipowners can benefit more fully from energy-saving technologies.”
He pointed out with fuel prices continuing to drop, profit and loss accounts will improve, providing owners with the resources needed to re-invest in new ship designs, equipment and technologies capable of reducing fuel consumption even further.
Whilst Mr Ozcan said he does not suggest that the industry embarks on the kind of newbuilding spending spree that will prolong or perpetuate over-capacity, he does believe shipowners have a commercially-viable opportunity to replace ageing, less efficient tonnage with vessels capable of meeting increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Ecoships’ energy-efficient bulk carrier design unveiled in September last year is indicative of the group’s commitment to sustainable shipping.
The Green Lotus 32 is a 32,500dwt geared, wide-hatched, double-hulled bulk carrier designed to meet existing and future CO2, NOx and SOx emissions regulations.
