Page 21: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2017)

Why Is Fuel Testing Important?

© pluf? yman / Adobe Stock hip operators should make on showed that the presence of the biofuel board fuel testing an operation- component, which increases the risk of al necessity, urges Wilhelmsen bacterial contamination in fuels, was in-

Ships Service (WSS). creasing year-on-year and is now present

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There are a host of issues, which can in over 11 percent of all on-spec fuel.” arise with both traditional heavy fuels Testing during bunkering is an obvious and modern low sulfur distillates that, if antidote to such fuel issues, but even this left unchecked, cause signi? cant prob- precaution has its ? aws, Östlund says.

lems in the engine room. “MARPOL-approved testing during

Water content is a common problem bunkering can highlight these problems, for both fuels, but there speci? c issues but recent estimates suggest just 20 per- associated with the two distinct fuel cent of vessels are performing them. types. Those that do typically can wait up to “Heavy fuels are prone to problems six days to get the results back from the with stability and the ominous catalytic lab and by then they’ve been sailing on ? nes that wear down engines, even in that fuel for almost a week.” cases where they are within recommend- Based on the limited take up in bun- ed levels,” said Jonas Östlund, Product ker testing and the processing time for

Marketing Manager, Oil, WSS. “Where- any tests performed, Östlund believes as distillate fuels see an increased risk of on board fuel testing is the, ‘quickest, microbial contamination and biofouling, easiest and most cost-effective solution along with storage stability and lubric- currently available.’ ity issues.” Unfortunately, as Östlund “For just a couple of hundred dollars asserts, bunkering on-spec fuel is of no a year you can drastically minimize the consequence: “Many of these inherent operational risks we’ve sadly all become issues with fuel do go unnoticed and too accustomed to,” he says.

unattended, as they are not covered by A video from WSS answers the ques- standard fuel speci? cations. tion, why is fuel testing important?

For example, DNV’s 2015 report https://vimeo.com/202901797 www.marinelink.com 21

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