The End Game Economics of Maritime Fuels - CleanTechnica

The article "The End Game Economics of Maritime Fuels" from CleanTechnica analyzes the future economic landscape of maritime fuels under a scenario where road transport is fully electrified, liquid fuels are largely confined to aviation and shipping, emissions control areas expand, and carbon pricing becomes significant. The author emphasizes that fuel comparisons should be based on energy delivered to the engine crankshaft rather than per ton or barrel of fuel. For example, very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) delivers about 5.4 MWh of energy to the crankshaft per ton, while electricity requires about 5.85 MWh to deliver the same output due to conversion efficiencies. Using this metric, current VLSFO prices of around $510 per ton translate directly to $510 per 5.4 MWh delivered, but in an end-state scenario with reduced refinery scale and carbon pricing, prices could rise dramatically to between $1,273 and $1,584 per crank equivalent depending on carbon price assumptions. The