Shipowners were warned of the risks of investing in ‘eco-ships’, rather than retrofitting older vessels, by participants at Studio Legale Lauro’s Shipping and The Law pre-conference yesterday in Naples, Italy.

While tightening environmental regulations are expected to nudge shipowners to purchase eco-ships, some delegates queried their economic viability.

After technical presentations on technologies such as hull coatings, new propeller designs, and air lubrication, the debate on eco-ship economics was opened by Michele Francioni, CEO of RINA Services.

The market’s current attitude towards eco-ships is “very diverse”, with strong advocates both for building eco-ships and for retrofitting older vessels, he said.

Dario Bocchetti, energy saving manager for Grimaldi Group, said the group is engaged in a “massive” retrofit drive for scrubber technology, which he described as currently the only viable solution.

While the technology is expensive, Grimaldi expects a payback time of only two-to-three years, he said.

Returns on investment from investing in an eco-ship or retrofitting an older design partly hinge on the market where the ship will operate, said Volkmar Galke, sales director for Wartsila’s Ship Power 2-Stroke.

“Some owners will invest because they operate in regulated areas,” he told IHS Maritime.

“If you operate in an environmental control area [ECA], because you have to comply with those rules you have future-proofed your investment. But if you travel between ECAs through a non-ECA area, you have to change your investment because maybe another technology will be feasible – and then you also have to future-proof that.”

Valeria Novella of Ottavio Novella queried whether eco-ships’ fuel savings could be sustained if market conditions change.

Through “excellent results in consumption… we see that these ships can be defined as economical as well as ecological”, she said.

However, she said the main question was how long a low-consumption ship could meet a shipping company’s commercial needs if market conditions alter and demand higher speeds.

“Will they be able to maintain their ‘eco’ – meaning not increasing their consumption?” she asked.

Girija Shettar