In usual everyday life no thought is given to filling a car up with petrol or diesel, we all take it for granted that “fuel quality” is trusted and fully in order.
However, the marine industry is different.
To start with the fuel mostly used for main engines is what is known as Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) or residual fuel. In short this comes from the oil refining process as the waste product; that which is left at the ‘bottom of the barrel’ after extraction of all other oil based products. In addition, due to modern processes such as catalytic cracking, there are increased problems with the final fuel being perhaps contaminated, unstable or generally of a varied quality.
It is generally recognized from the fuel testing industry that approximately 15-20% of fuel tested is not in accordance with the internationally agreed specification, ISO8217:2005. However, some are only for perhaps very slight off specification reasons which can be handled by a ship but our main reason for existing in this industry is to identify and warn the ship in case of the rest. These are the catastrophic ones which can lead to ships having no power, adrift in the ocean perhaps near coastline threatening not only the crew but also possible environmental dangers.
This section of the website now looks at the 3 main areas of concern:
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