Seanergy, Charterers Take the Scrubber Plunge
Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. entered into commercial agreements for the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on five of its capesize bulk carriers -- M/V Partnership, M/V Lordship, M/V Premiership, M/V Squireship and M/V Championship -- before the January 1, 2020 implementation date of the IMO sulfur emission cap regulations. The company secured the scrubber equipment from Hyundai Materials, a Korean manufacturer, and and will re-fit the ships in China. The total investment, to be covered by the charterers, is expected to exceed $12.5 million, including equipment and installation costs.
“We are very excited to announce these commercial agreements which should result in approximately $12.5 million accretion in our NAV," said Stamatis Tsantanis, Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. Chairman & CEO. "We believe that the significant investment that will be implemented in full cooperation with our charterers represents a balanced and comprehensive approach towards the new environmental regulations scheduled to become effective as of January 1, 2020.
Such strategic direction comes after careful consideration of the various aspects of the new regulations and their implications in our sector, given that Seanergy was one of the first Greek dry-bulk companies to conclude a feasibility study on scrubbers, in cooperation with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)."
The goal is to complete the installations of the scrubbers during 2019 before the IMO 2020 regulations come into force.