Bureau Veritas’ fuel consultancy VeriFuel has urged the bunker industry to improve transparency and cooperation to tackle the challenges of IMO’s looming sulphur cap.
The call is partly a response to recent fuel quality concerns including those in Houston and Singapore last year. Bureau Veritas global technical manager for marine fuels Charlotte Røjgaard argued that such concerns could become more likely in an increasingly fragmented and complex bunkering marketplace from 2020.
“With under a year to go until the 2020 sulphur cap regulation comes into force, the marine fuel supply chain must band together and use this as an opportunity to help dispel increasingly outdated bunker fuel delivery processes and procedures.,” said Ms Røjgaard. “Instead of pulling in different directions, we need to work collaboratively for the greater good of the industry.”
VeriFuel warned that fuel quality testing in isolated cases had proved ineffective in solving underlying concerns and argued for an ‘industry-wide cause-and-effect analysis’. This is particularly needed as several new low-sulphur fuel blends emerge on the market in the months leading up to the new sulphur rule.
Ms Røjgaard said: “Treating fuel contamination issues as a commercial opportunity, rather than pulling together at this critical time will not only exacerbate fuel quality challenges, it will also continue a culture of mistrust that has plagued the bunker industry for years.”
Fuel quality issues around compliant fuel blends will be discussed at the Americas Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference, to be held in Houston on 5-6 March. Book your place now.
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