Lloyd’s Register has published its Fuel Quality Report 2024, which highlights critical insights into marine fuel quality and its implications for the maritime industry.
The report emphasizes that concerns about fuel quality remain a significant issue and expense for shipowners and operators. Produced by LR’s Fuel Oil Bunker Analysis and Advisory Service (FOBAS), the report aims to inform stakeholders about current fuel quality trends and the evolving regulatory environment.
According to LR, the general picture of fuel quality in 2024 is one similar to the past few years, at least since the shift to predominantly VLSFO in 2020. The same historical quality concerns such as cat-fines and stability, sulfur and flash point remain, and isolated incidents of chemical contamination are still occurring.
Looking forward, the application of the newly established ISO 8217:2024 standard, which includes all current fuel types, is anticipated to be adopted swiftly. LR claims that the industry can also expect an increase in the demand and use of different biofuel and RFNBO types, not just of FAME. This adds significant challenges to the maritime industry to maintain control of the quality and composition transparency of the fuel supplied.
Our analysis not only highlights the most common parameters exceeding specification limits but also delves into the findings of non-standard forensic tests, which have proven crucial for detecting external chemical contamination in fuel.
… said Andrew Shaw, Managing Director, Lloyds Register FOBAS
