Oman Shipping Co (OSC) chief executive Ibrahim Al Nadhairi readily concedes he was no fan of scrubbers when the Muscat-based company began preparing for the International Maritime Organization's 2020 sulphur mandate.

A chief engineer by training, Al Nadhairi headed up OSC’s technical ship management division in the run up to the new regulations.

“At the beginning we were not interested in retrofitting any of our ships with scrubbers due to the capital, installation and operating costs involved,” he told TradeWinds.