- Sediment problems within VLSFOs has been noticed in a few ports after IMO 2020 was enforced.
- The samples from six ports were collected for over a period of four weeks and analyzed.
- A similar problem was faced by Singapore and US Gulf in 2018.
According to an article published in Saftey4sea, a rise has been observed in fuel instability leading to sediment formation from the fuels.
Sediment issues within VLSFO fuel
Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) issues Bunker Alerts whenever fuel quality matters arise in a specific port, or region, over a short time period. As it informs, between 24th December 2019 and 21st January 2020, it has issued seven Bunker Alerts regarding sediment issues within VLSFO fuels.
These alerts show that sediment problems within VLSFOs take place not to a single port, or region, over this recent four week period, as they have been issued in relation to fuel supplied in:
- Singapore;
- Piraeus;
- Amsterdam;
- Rotterdam;
- Miami;
- San Vincente.
Singapore had faced similar incidents in 2018
Namely, six samples of ship fuel in Singapore had caused severe sludging at centrifuges, clogged pipelines, and overwhelmed fuel filters. The first problem sample in Asia was found on April 13 in Port Kelang in Malaysia, which led to a dead ship that had to be towed back to port with all fuel pumps damaged.
What is more, contaminated bunkers were also observed in the US Gulf in 2018, which resulted in a significant number of vessels experiencing system clogging and, in more extreme cases, engine damage.
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Source: Safety4sea
