Bunker fuel quality issues could rise in 2021

Bunker fuel quality problems may become more common this year as demand recovers for other transport fuels, trading firm KPI OceanConnect's chief executive Soren Holl said.

The shipping industry had anticipated significantly quality issues with new marine fuel blends, such as 0.5pc and 0.1pc sulphur fuel oil, which were created to comply with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) 0.5pc sulphur cap that began at the start of 2020. Although there were some quality issues, they were not widespread.

"This may have been partly masked by the pandemic and the depressed oil price," Holl said in a LinkedIn post. If demand recovers for distillates, which can be used to create IMO-compliant blends, then prices will increase and bunker blenders may have to find other, cheaper alternatives.

"As we saw in early 2018 from ships bunkering in Houston, these fuels might be ISO 8217 compliant, but they can still cause mechanical and safety issues," Holl said.

Bunker contamination affected more than 100 vessels in 2018 from fuel that met ISO 8217 standards. The International Bunkering Association (IBA) noted at the time that this standard does not cover all quality parameters.

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These challenges may rear their head once the world starts to recover from Covid-19 and distillate demand increases in other industries, and if unscrupulous suppliers start using cheaper components for blending," Holl said.

The collapse in demand for jet fuel and for road fuels caused by Covid-19 meant that some of these could have made their way into the marine fuel blending pool, potentially leading to safety issues.

Law firm Hill & Dickinson said in December legal disputes over fuel quality were rare last year, but they did occur around the world.

By George Collard