Poor fuel types trouble shipping

TMC Marine's Gary Rawlings had three cases of engine breakdowns caused by poor fuel management on his mind when he met up with TradeWinds recently.

It is not an uncommon situation for the marine engineer in his role representing marine insurers — and poor-quality marine fuels feature heavily in a loss-prevention booklet on engine breakdowns that his team has recently produced along with Bureau Veritas and the London protection-and-indemnity (P&I) club.

One problem he sees is that most charter parties commonly specify the 2005 ISO standard 8217, allowing cat fines — aluminium and silicon compounds used in oil processing — of 70 parts per million (ppm) in fuel. Engine manufacturers specify between 10 ppm and 15 ppm, and onboard purifiers are not able to take out a sufficient quantity of cat fines.

“What we are seeing is that purifiers are only 80% efficient and can’t get the cat fines down to 15 ppm,” he says.

The inefficiency of the purifiers is often made worse by poor maintenance and operation.

“Purifiers are 80% to 85% efficient if they are well maintained and run properly," he says. "But today we are seeing crews that are not trained and, in some cases, purifiers have become high-speed pumps more than anything else."

The problem is made worse if the marine fuels are sold with a higher level of cat fines and impurities than specified in the ISO standard. Not enough owners are testing their fuel, Rawlings says. Despite the often costly repairs and off-hire bills following breakdowns, insurers do not make fuel testing a requirement for cover.

“Fuel testing should be mandatory,” Rawlings says.

However, International Bunker Industry Association chief executive Justin Murphy points out that, since 2015, there actually has been a “significant reduction” in notes of protest about the quality of marine fuels.

Still, he has concerns this could change when 2020 sees the introduction of new fuel types that have been blended to meet the Marpol Annex VI global standard.

“We think that there is the potential for the trend to reverse from 2020 and some people will push the margins as much as they can to maximise profits — and occasionally they will make mistakes,” Murphy says. “That process of experimentation and pushing the envelope to maximise profits is quite likely to see notes of protest picking up again.”