- INTERCARGO voiced its discontent over 0.50% Sulfur supply.
- Testing of new fuels causes significant safety implications and affects marine environment.
- The global sulfur cap for marine fuel drops to 0.50% from January 1, 2020, and VLSFO demand appears weak.
INTERCARGO has voiced its discontent at what it sees as shortcomings in the supply of IMO2020 grade fuel, reports Ship & Bunker.
Fuels at limited number of ports
INTERCARGO commented that it is extremely worrying that compliant fuels have so far been made available only in a limited number of ports, as Charterers/Operators are not currently obliged to purchase future compliant fuel.
Therefore, the practical testing of new fuels and crew training has become limited and pushed to the end of the year.
Threat to marine environment
The organization also voice out that this situation creates significant safety implications for the operation of ships, which could eventually threaten the safety of seafarers, ships, and cargoes, as well as the marine environment.
Fuels with 0.50% max sulfur
The group’s complaint is presumably levelled especially at 0.50% max sulfur products.
Compliant distillate products have been available at virtually all world bunkering ports. The change in this scenario in response to the new sulfur rules needs to be seen.
VLSFO
A key issue for buyers is that compliant distillate fuels are more expensive than the emerging IMO2020 specific grade fuels, also known as VLSFO, being developed by suppliers.
However, VLSFO is a lot more expensive than the HFO that vessels are currently lifting today. This means that there is little incentive to buy the new fuels now other than for testing.
Global sulfur cap
The global sulfur cap for marine fuel drops to 0.50% from January 1, 2020, and some of those that have made VLSFO available now claim that the demand is weak.
Still, INTERCARGO says it wants those new fuels to be made available for practical testing “well before the end of 2019“, and has called on the bunker industry to provide the market with “significant volumes of compliant fuels at many ports around the world.”
The group, which represents about 25% of the dry bulk fleet on a dwt basis, has also urged Charterers and Operators to start purchasing those fuels.
Publicly Available Specification
Specification for the new fuels has yet to be released and this is the next constraint. When the new fuels are released, it will only be as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) rather than a revision to the ISO8217 marine fuel standard.
INTERCARGO has also urged for the PAS to be released “as soon as possible” and additionally that ship Owners/Operators enhance their IMO2020 related crew training.
It said that the seafarers deserve special consideration, as the industry will largely rely on skills for managing the new compliant fuels aboard ships on the high seas to ensure a smooth implementation of this drastic change.
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Source: Ship & Bunker
