As New Ship-Fuel Era Nears, Testing Firm Finds Faulty Samples

(Bloomberg) -- A firm that’s charged with testing the reliability and stability of fuel for use on ships found multiple instances where new products were delivered in northwest Europe that breached industry standards.

About 15-20 samples of so-called bunker fuel in Antwerp and nearby ports were found to contain too much sediment, an issue that could lead to engine shutdown in an extreme scenario, Muhammad Usman, product manager at FOBAS, said in an interview. His company is part of Lloyd’s Register, one of the world’s biggest ship-classification societies.

The findings, from about a month’s worth of sampling, matter because the global shipping industry is just 12 days from having to switch to fuels that contain much less sulfur. While there’s evidence of sediment levels breaching the applicable limits, that doesn’t on the whole point to a major increase in off-specification material, Usman said.

“This is not an alarming situation where everything is going upside down,” he said. “But we need to make sure our clients are aware of it.”

The environmental rules, set out by the International Maritime Organization and widely known as IMO 2020, cut the amount of sulfur allowed in marine fuel to maximum 0.5% starting Jan. 1, from maximum 3.5% in most parts of the world today. Shippers around the world are already switching to cleaner propellant and their most popular choice appears to be what’s known as very low sulfur fuel oil, or VLSFO.

Read more: A QuickTake on the new rules for vessel fuel

In the lead up to the switch, shipping groups repeatedly questioned the safety of using this new product. Vessel owners’ concerns have tended to center on mixing two different versions of the same fuel that might be incompatible with one another.

Of the 15-20 samples identified by FOBAS, about 80% were VLSFO, which typically has 0.5% sulfur, and the remainder were ultra low-sulfur fuel oil, which normally contains no more than 0.1% of the pollutant.

Excess sediment can lead to problems including sludge building up in a vessel’s fuel tanks and blocked filters. While there are various mitigating actions shippers can take, too much sediment has the potential to ultimately lead to engine shutdown in a worst-case scenario, Usman said.

“For some suppliers, it will take time to get more experience of the correct blending formula,” Usman said.

FOBAS isn’t the only testing firm to find issues with new IMO fuels. Contaminants were also found recently in VLSFOs in northwest Europe and East Asia, according to an emailed report earlier this month from Viswa Group, another testing company. The firm identified three fuels in Rotterdam, two in Antwerp, and one in Singapore with high contamination levels.

--With assistance from Rachel Graham.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Wittels in London at jwittels1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.net, John Deane

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.