Volatility will trail in the wake of the 0.5% sulphur restriction that the International Maritime Organization imposed on the ocean liner industry on January 1, says Jan Harnisch, COO Global Products for Rhenus Logistics Air & Ocean.The executive for the German logistics giant which last year acquired South African freight forwarder World Net Logistics, said ramifications could also be expected once customers started correcting their profit margins.And whether it’s Peter Besnard, CEO of the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa), or Glenn Delve and Ian Rosario of MSC, liner executives all over the world agree that the man in the street will feel the brunt of it.Or as David McCallum, MD of DAL Agency, succinctly stated in a recent interview with FTW: “It finally f lows to the consumer as carriers can’t be expected to carry the can.”Says Harnisch: “The market will be uncertain when it comes to IMO-compliant fuels. We should expect volatility, price spikes and ultimately a certain degree of speculation due to the balance between offer and demand.”For the moment though, IMO2020 is only beginning to send ripples through the industry, with the ensuing shock expected to be someway off still.“There is no doubt that rates will certainly be higher. However, even carriers are concerned about how difficult it is becoming to calculate the actual cost. As a result, we’re currently in a transition period.”Harnish adds that “until it’s possible to define the real impact, it will be difficult to work out how long rates will increase for. During the first half of 2020 we can expect that the situation will remain in transition”.He emphasised that resulting rate adjustments were expected every quarter.However, drastic fluctuations and escalations in fuel rates could filter through on a monthly basis.