Higher cost of diesel fuel due to maritime usage?

theoldwizard1 wrote:
There was discussion of doing this on the Great Lakes. All the shipping companies said they would just park their ships because the cost of replacing the engine was not feasible.

As having been an engineer on lakers for a few years, let me assure you that this is fact. When I started on the lakes, there were over 300 US flagged ships. There are now fewer than 100. The vast majority are diesel and most of those use engines that are also used in rail and stationary power. Until the companies that build those engines have the time and resources to re-engineer the fuel systems for low sulfur, there will be no parts and/or service available. Lake shipping is a marginal operation any way, and limited to about 9 months of the year. I bet the lay-up of 2019 will be the last of many of these ships. With the cost of this change, many will get converted to barges and the others will be scrapped.

I can also tell you exactly what the blue water ships will do. The have lots of tanks. That is what the double bottom is for. They will have enough low sulfur to get from the 200 mile into and back out of port. That is what they will use when they have to, but the rest of the time, they will run what ever cheap fuel they can find.

Matt - Still has the license, but not going back any time soon.