OCEAN carriers sold half of this year's containerships for scrap in the last 30 days, after a slow year for recycling cellular vessels, reports Washington DC's Supply Chain Dive. Some 52 ships totalling 94,000 TEU, were sold for scrap in 2018, according to London's Loadstar, and 23 of those decisions were made in November. This time last year, 141 ships (398,500 TEU) had been sent to the scrap yard. The increase is likely because of the coming of IMO 2020, the International Maritime Organisation's virtual sulphur emissions ban has carriers compelled to decide which units to upgrade and which to scrap. The compliance options are to switch to a more expensive fuel source (US$250 more per ton) with low sulphur content, or install scrubbers on ships to clean the exhaust. Scrubbers cost about the same as 4,000-TEU vessels, bolstering reasons to scrap. Thus, more scrapping is expected next year.