Test alarm over low-sulphur fuel blends for ocean-going vessels

ID 131820343 © Denys Yelmanov | Dreamstime.com

While most of the attention has, understandably, been on the cost of implementing the IMO’s new low-sulphur regulations, a potentially more problematic issue is how the differing blends of low-sulphur fuel can create large amounts of sediment in vessel fuel tanks, which can lead to catastrophic engine failure. Fobas, a fuel testing company owned by Lloyd’s Register, said this month it found high sediment levels in bunker fuel samples in Singapore and Antwerp and other European ports. “The levels exceeded international residue standards.”