MSC receives $439m scrubber loan for 86 ships

Law firm WFW has revealed further details of the financial arrangements behind MSC’s extensive scrubber retrofit programme. Work on Sinosure-backed transaction will be carried out by Chinese yards.

News ID: 80337

Date: 26 January 2019 - 09:04

The company has agreed $439m in financing to install scrubbers on 86 container ships. Five banks will finance the loan

MSC CHIEF EXECUTIVE DIEGO APONTE IS KNOWN TO SUPPORT THE ARGUMENT FOR USING SCRUBBERS TO MEET CLIMATE CHANGE RED TAPE.

MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Co’s programme to retrofit scrubbers on 86 vessels will be funded by a $439m loan from banks including BNP Paribas, it has emerged.

Details of the plan first came to light following Chinese media reports in August last year, but with few further details.

The financing information has entered the public domain following a statement by shipping law firm Watson Farley & Williams, whose Paris branch acted as advisor.

As was already known, the transaction is backed by export credit guarantees from Sinosure, the statement confirmed.

The arrangement was first reported by China Insurance News, the designated media outlet of China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

CIN also said several Chinese shipbuilders, including Cosco Shipping Heavy Industries, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp and CIC Linxin Shipyard, would take on the installation work.

MSC chief executive Diego Aponte is a known proponent of using scrubbers to meet the International Maritime Organization sulphur cap from January 1, 2020.

MSC has previously confirmed it will fit scrubbers on its fleet of 23,000 teu newbuildings, and is also understood to be behind a $197m retrofit scrubber order placed with Finland’s Wärtsilä in July 2018.

MSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.