The biggest worry with adapting to the pending IMO 2020 sulphur cap is not what the shipowners know but what they do not, according to an industry executive.

"I'd have to say the unknowns," Koch Supply & Trading vice president of shipping Andrew Smiley said today at TradeWinds IMO 2020 Disruption Forum in New York City.

"I really believe there's going to be a lot of situations and conflicts with the whole transition starting three or four months before January 1 and six months after it goes into effect," he said.