The Institute of Bunker Buyers and Consumers (IBBC) is still ‘extremely concerned’ about the outbreak of contaminated fuel, which originated in the US earlier this year, and then spread further to Panama Canal, Singapore and the far East.
As IBBC said, many operators have been affected, and the incidences have caused serious problems and difficult challenges to find solutions. They also led to significant cost in many cases.
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We call upon suppliers to above all remain constructive and work together with buyers, ship owners and operators to find a solution to this serious problem which is affecting a huge number of vessels.
In April multiple vessels reported problems with contaminated fuels in Houston, Texas. Phenolic compounds were present in every sample which damage the ships’ engines. A similar problem was also reported in Singapore and Panama.
These issues made INTERTANKO state that fuel contamination may become a ‘global epidemic’, while IBIA claimed that no meaningful resolution has been reached. This is important as from 2020, an increase in low sulphur blends demand is expected. This spike will increase the risk of contamination, argues Lars Robert Pedersen of BIMCO.
However, there are worries as to whether there are enough methods to detect such issues. According to IBIA, ISO 8217 and Regulation 18.3 of MARPOL Annex VI, which state that fuels should not contain any harmful materials, do not necessarily show if the fuel is contaminated.