Environmental measures - like clean fuel - will double the cost of shipping, warns the World Shipping Council.
"Fuel costs represent as much as 50-60 per cent of total ship operating costs. Bunker prices have risen 87 per cent since the beginning of 2007" said the WSC.
The council said it can cost more than US$3.4 million to power a 7,750-TEU ship on a 28-day transpacific voyage. "The cost of low-sulphur fuels to be used in Emission Control Areas will be roughly double the cost of bunker fuel, thus creating even more upward operating cost pressures going forward," said the group.
Crude oil prices have surpassed US$119 a barrel this week, resulting in bunker fuel going selling at $552 a ton, $26 more than on April 1.
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