Shipping fears engine failures as industry switches to low sulphur fuel


Add oil tankers breaking down at sea to the list of things shipping companies are worrying about as they brace for a once-in-a-generation overhaul to the kind of fuel the industry must consume.


BY ELLEN MILLIGAN, BLOOMBERG


From Jan. 1, 2020, the vast majority of the world’s merchant fleet will have to use fuel containing no more than 0.5 percent sulfur, down from 3.5 percent in most parts of the world today. The change is expected to upend both shipping and refining industries, with analysts forecasting higher oil prices, slower-sailing ships, and some observers even warning of risks to world trade.


Now more and more of the world’s largest shipping companies and trade groups, already mindful of spiraling costs, are saying there’s a safety risk too. Their primary worry is the lack of a single fuel type that complies with the rules. Since refineries across the world are coming up with different solutions to meet the sulfur-reduction target, owners say their ships’ engines could be damaged by inadvertently mixing incompatible products.


“This is of course a concern, and the marine fuels that can be used when the 2020 regulation is implemented are believed to be more unstable and contain other compounds than what


74 | The Report • December 2018 • Issue 86


is the case today,” said Harald Fotland, Chief Operating Officer at Odfjell SE, one of the world’s largest shippers of chemicals. “Therefore, we have to be even more cautious in selecting fuels.”


After years of deliberating, the 2020 start date for the new rules was set in October 2016 by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping agency. Vessels must lower sulfur emissions. Those with exhaust- gas cleaning systems that remove the pollutant will be able to keep burning existing products that are cheaper, but the equipment is expensive and takes up cargo space.


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