On January 9, FOBAS issued an alert informing all shipowners and operators of off spec marine fuel oil at Singapore that according to its testings, the sediment of bunker fuel oil is above the limit as specified in ISO 8217 for an RMG380.
Specifically, FOBAS proceeded on testing a number of samples from Singapore, which were ordered as ISO-F-RMG380 grade.
Yet, Total Sediment Potential results were unobtainable, with samples failing to filter within the 25 minutes given for the test method. This means that the sediment exceeded the specified limit. On the contrary, other fuel parameters indicate satisfactory results.
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Moreover, fuels with high sediments can result in excessive sludge deposition in tanks and throughout the handling and treatment/fuel injection systems.
In addition, when using this kind of fuels, it will most likely result to highly compromised combustion leading to engine and turbocharger damage.
Advised bunker details from respective Bunker Delivery Notes (BDN) as well as FOBAS quality analysis indicate these samples appear to originate from same batch of fuel delivered over a period of time.
To these results, FOBAS recommends that if a shipper plans to bunker in that region, the suppliers should be able to provide with additional reassurance that they will adhere to the ISO 8217 requirements for the grade ordered.