Seanergy Maritime Holdings would not have fitted exhaust gas scrubbers to half of its fleet if it knew what it knows now about the devices.

The New York-listed owner of 10 capesizes, with an 11th on the way, would not have installed any, despite getting charterers to pick up the $14m tab for the IMO 2020-compliant units.

"What was extremely misleading from the beginning is that the scrubber fitting was a paper exercise," chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis said during a talk with Noble Capital Markets analyst Poe Fratt.