Availability of low-sulphur bunkers may not be guaranteed on some trade routes, the head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said on Monday.
“There might be some challenges” for shipping companies active in the north-to-south trades, IMO secretary general Kitack Lim said at the opening of the Maritime Cyprus conference in Limassol, less than three months after the sulphur cap is being implemented.
Lim’s statement chimes with concerns expressed on Friday by the leadership of Intercargo, a dry bulk owners’ association.
Tramp shipping operating outside main East-to-West hubs, such as Korea, Singapore, the Middle East and the Gulf of Mexico will find it difficult to get their hands on compliant and safe fuel, Intercargo’s chairman Dimitris Fafalios had said.
Intertanko, an association of independent tanker companies, pointed out that fuel compatibility issues can’t be properly addressed as long as some of the fuels offered are not on the market yet.
Members were “as ready as they can be” for the sulphur cap, but were still “a bit nervous” on the compatibility of different 0.5% fuels blended together, said the group’s managing director Katharina Stenzel.
“We’re not yet in the clear,” Stenzel said during the conference.
There is only one way to cope with the problem, said Andreas Hadjiyiannis, president of the Cyprus Union of Shipowners.
“The IMO must come out and say that this [low-sulphur] rule will apply only after the correct kinds of fuel are sufficiently available,” Hadjiyiannis said, speaking on a different panel.
