No.5 “Fuel quality and shlphur content”

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OMC e-mail newsletter No.5

“Fuel quality and shlphur content” 

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Welcome to OMC e-mail newsletter !　

This newsletter introduce regulations for fuel and judgement its quality.

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◆Contents

[1] Regulations for marine fuel

[2] Sulphur contents for MARPOL sample and commercial sample

[3] Summary

[1] Regulations for marine fuel

MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14 require that marine fuel sulphur content shall not exceed 0.50% m/m on or after 1 Jan. 2020 for ships operating outside designated emission control areas. For ships operating in ECA and some areas/port which is locally designated, marine fuel sulphur content shall not exceed 0.10% m/m.

To comply with this regulation, owners/operators have some options such as using compliant fuel, fit SOx scrubber and use alternative fuel such as LNG. To show the proof that vessel comply with the regulation, vessel shall have BDN (Bunker Delivery Note) and/or designated authority inspector may check vessel’s MARPOL sample.

BDN shall include below items at least.

• Density at 15℃ (kg/m³)
• Sulphur content (% m/m)

[2] Sulphur contents for MARPOL sample and commercial sample

When vessel intake bunker, ship staffs take both MARPOL sample and commercial sample (for analysis, for ship retain and for bunker supplier). Then, there are cases that sulphur contents of analysis result of commercial sample exceed limited value. For example, you may have experience that although the BDN states that the sulfur contents is 0.48%, analysis of commercial samples shows that the sulfur contents is 0.51%.

As for the sulfur contents regulated by MARPOL, the one analyzed according to the inspection procedure ISO 8754 is valid, and the sulfur contents exceed the upper limit mentioned in [1] above is not allowed.

In contrast, ISO 4259 describes the accuracy and application of inspections of commercial samples collected and analyzed in accordance with ISO 8217 “specification of marine fuels” used in agreements on fuel oil specification between charterers and owners. Along with this, R & R (Repeatability & Reproducibility), the so-called tolerance for error in inspection results, is defined.

Therefore, even if the sulfur contents in the fuel oil analyzed in the commercial sample exceeds the upper limit,  it will be considered to be within the regulated sulfur contents if less than the analysis value ( 0.53% for 0.50%, 0.11% for 0.10%) that takes measurement error  into consideration.

CIMAC (Conseil International des Machines a Combustion (French)) explain the measurement error tolerance of each item specified in ISO 4259 and ISO 8217. Please refer it from below link.

The Interpretation of Marine Fuel Analysis

[3] Summary

• Differences in usage (purpose) between MARPOL samples and commercial samples
• MARPOL sample is a sample to check if fuel comply with MARPOL (Analysis by Port Authority request, if any） : Density at 15℃ / Sulphur contents
• Commercial sample is a sample to check whether it is compatible with the main engine / auxiliary machinery of the ship (Analysis by the owner）： Density at 15℃ / Sulphur contents + check for abnormal substances to make damage to main engine and auxiliary machinery.
• For the fuel conformity certification regulated by MARPOL, the numerical values ​​stated in BDN and the inspection results of MARPOL samples are valid.
• The MARPOL sample analysis method and the commercial sample analysis method are different, and the measurement error is defined in accordance with ISO 4259 in the analysis result of the commercial sample.

UK P&I hosted webiners about Fuel Quality Claims including Sulphur contents on 2020 and issued papers to summarize various questions at the webinar. You can download the paper from below link.

Fuel Quality Claims - Technical and Legal Aspects FAQ (ukpandi.com)

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If you would like to contact us regarding anything about this newsletter, please contact below address. We are well experienced Captains and Engineers and will be pleased to assist you. 

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Orient Marine Co., LTD.

MARINE TECHNICAL DEPT.

Tel: [phone] 

e-mail: [e-mail] 

URL：https://www.toyosenpaku.com/business/marine-technical-consultancy/ 

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