{"id":1641,"date":"2022-07-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneocean25stg.wpenginepowered.com\/insights\/dealing-with-bad-bunkers"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:18:06","slug":"dealing-with-bad-bunkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oneocean.com\/insights\/dealing-with-bad-bunkers","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with Bad Bunkers"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Lloyd\u2019s Register, fuel accounts for up to 60% of a ship\u2019s operational costs and quality is vitally important. Off-specification or contaminated fuel can adversely affect performance and cause serious damage.<\/h4>\n

Even away from allegations and concerns about tainted or contaminated fuel, globally quality varies significantly. From the US Gulf to Singapore, there have been reports of vessels receiving tainted fuel. Which not only risks damaging machinery but can bring serious safety problems. A vessel blackout can cause all kinds of problems, from grounding to collisions, and if it happens in bad weather, even sinking.<\/p>\n

According to a loss prevention report from NORTH P&I, the bunker fuel contaminations have affected numerous vessels, with problems ranging from failure of the fuel system to the auxiliary engine resulting in loss of power and propulsion creating a blackout.<\/p>\n

Marine lawyers and P&I Clubs have been eager to flag the issues to clients and members, respectively. Stressing the fact that strict fuel testing rules are in place, with IMO guidelines (\u201cGuidelines for the sampling of fuel oil for determination of compliance with Annex VI MARPOL 73\/78\u201d) which provide, amongst other things, that \u201ca sample of the fuel delivered to ship should be obtained at the receiving ship\u2019s bunker manifold and should be drawn continuously throughout the bunker delivery period\u201d. However, it seems that even with IMO guidelines and ISO standards to follow (ISO 8217), it is clear that harmful compounds can slip through the checks.<\/p>\n

Contamination can also cause long term problems, such as the seizure of fuel pumps and plunger and barrel corrosion. So even if a vessel does manage to cope unscathed in the first instance, there can be a long tail to the concerns.<\/p>\n

Intertanko has long voiced its concerns about contaminated fuel and its view that not enough is being done to help shipowners. The trade body has called for governments and authorities to investigate fuel contamination cases and take appropriate actions, including giving serious fines together with restitution for the ships impacted.<\/p>\n

Contaminated bunkers can lead to numerous technical problems for vessels. These include severe sludging at centrifuges, clogged pipelines and overwhelmed fuel filters. Blocked fuel filters are usually the first indicator that all is not well with the supply.<\/p>\n

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As the fuel works its way through the system, other problems then become apparent, such as:<\/p>\n