(www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On 24 February 2020 BIMCO, The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO launched The Fuel Oil Quality and Safety Survey with the aim to get a greater understanding of the quality of the new fuel oils and possible safety implications of the IMO 2020 sulphur regulation.
The survey, which ran from 24 February until 6 May 2020, was targeted at shore-based
personnel not the ships’ crews. Consequently, the three most frequent respondents were
from technical departments (52.6%), operational functions, such as fleet and vessel
management (21.9%), and bunker departments (8.3%). The dataset being analysed is based on 192 responses.
The intention of the survey was to conduct a wider industry survey, circulated to all members of BIMCO, ICS, INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO, rather than to collect data on a
case-specific basis when a ship was faced with fuel quality and/or safety issues related to
the fuel quality. Since the survey was addressed to individuals (e.g. Fleet Managers, Vessel
Managers and Technical Superintendents) not companies nor specific ships, the questions
had to be formulated in a more generic way. Respondents were guided to answer the
questions to the best of their knowledge based on their personal experience with the ships,
for which they are responsible. Consequently, the distribution frequency of answers
cannot be considered to represent the frequency of problems in the world fleet. However,
it does give an indication of where the challenges may have been for the shipping industry
on a global basis since 1 January 2020.
The survey gives us valuable insight into the magnitude and nature of problems encountered by the industry in the transition to using VLSFO marine fuel.
Since fuel oil properties are fluctuating, it is expected that quality and safety problems will not go away. Quality issues may in worst case pose a risk to the crew, the ship, and the environment.
Click on the image below to download the full survey report:
Source: BIMCO
