Scrubber payback calculator
A scrubber lets a ship keep burning cheap high-sulphur fuel (HSFO) instead of compliant VLSFO. Whether it pays back turns on the VLSFO-HSFO price spread (how much dearer compliant fuel is), how much the ship burns, and how many days it trades. This sizes the payback for your assumptions.
| $60/t spread | 7.2 yr |
| $100/t spread | 4.3 yr |
| $140/t spread | 3.1 yr |
| $180/t spread | 2.4 yr |
| $220/t spread | 2.0 yr |
Payback = CAPEX ÷ (annual HSFO burn × spread, net of the scrubber’s own power/reagent opex), where the spread is the VLSFO−HSFO premium: how much dearer compliant fuel is, i.e. what the scrubber saves per tonne. A first-order screen. It ignores HSFO availability, the open- vs closed-loop discharge-zone restrictions, financing, resale/residual value, and the tightening sulphur-cap / carbon-pricing backdrop that erodes the HSFO advantage over a scrubber’s life. Track the live spread on bunker prices.