Chronos faced a common challenge in the industry: the misalignment between who pays for energy-saving upgrades and who benefits from them. With their vessel on a long-term time charter, the owner was responsible for capex, while the charterer captured the fuel savings. Despite having identified a package of retrofits that could significantly reduce emissions and fuel costs, the project stalled. Neither party wanted to carry the full risk.
Our approach:
Njord stepped in as a neutral partner to structure a commercially workable solution. First, we modelled the fuel savings and return on investment across different operating scenarios. We then built a benefit-sharing proposal that reflected both parties’ contributions and constraints, with financial logic both sides could accept.
Crucially, we backed our recommendations with operational data and independent performance benchmarks. This helped build trust in the projections and reassured the charterer that the savings were credible. The final agreement allowed the owner to recover part of the savings over time, while the charterer lowered their cost base from day one.
The outcome was a retrofit project that would have otherwise been abandoned. Chronos avoided stranded capital, the charterer improved margins, and the vessel became more competitive in a tightening regulatory and commercial climate.
