OREANDA-NEWS. The global shipping industry will likely resort to burning 0.5pc sulphur bunkers once the marine fuel sulphur limit tightens, International Bunkering Industry Association (IBIA) chairman Robin Meech said at the Singapore International Bunker Conference today.

The new sulphur limit will drop from the current 3.5pc to 0.5pc in either January 2020 or January 2025, though a decision on a future implementation date is currently pending.

"Alternative fuels are unlikely to be significant in the next ten years," said Meech, speaking to delegates at the annual conference. Most shipowners were expected to continue burning a 0.5pc sulphur bunker blend.

This sentiment was echoed by representatives from several shipping companies during the panel discussions, including Dunkan Bond, chief commercial officer at Berge Bulk; Neeraj Joshi, global operations manager at China Navigation; Jon Birkholm, vice president at BW VLCC; and Joshua Low, global head of trading at Maersk.

Investments in LNG for bunkering and marine exhaust scrubbers may also be delayed.

Meech projected residual bunker fuel demand will drop from over 200mn t in 2019 to about 75mn t in 2020, provided the new global marine fuel regulation goes into effect in 2020.

But with the increasingly widespread of scrubbers, residual bunker fuel demand was projected to gradually bounce back to over 100mn t by 2030.

The question of whether scrubbers will eventually become widespread could meanwhile deter some refiners from investing in upgrading capacity, according to Meech.