Strong rates have cut the payback time for scrubber installation to just 156 days for some VLCCs, an analyst has calculated.

Cleaves Securities said a 2010-built non-eco tanker can expect to make back the $3.2m cost of retrofitting over five months as earnings for these ships outstrip their more modern sisterships without exhaust gas cleaners by $11,000 per day thanks to the cheaper high-sulphur fuels they can still burn post-IMO 2020.