[mabbo]

While I agree with your analysis, one counter-argument I can think of: Is the ship always using that much fuel?

I know a lot of ships spend days waiting to enter the panama canal, or days in port. Crew is certainly paid for those days as well. What percentage of the time is the ship fully underway and using fuel?

That 44% figure might be more reasonable if you're only burning fuel 1/3 of the time.

[hwillis]

I did think of that, and also that you may need other shifts on retainer, and the normal food/insurance/fees/overhead of employing people across borders. Still though, for the triple E the expected fuel cost is 30x the expected crew cost.

The stretches to explain that gap would be ludicrous eg 3 shifts, each costing the company 3x more than their actual salary, and the engine being turned off 70% of the time. Even still that requires you to disregard depreciation, which for the triple E is at least $17,000 a day.