Quality concerns: Switching between residual fuels and distillates when traversing ECAs has resuted in unforeseen complications for vessel operators

摘要

Changes to the regulatory landscape mean that vessel operation has become significantly more complicated in recent times. In particular, operators have had to choose the means of complying with emission standards either through the use of technical solutions such as scrubbers (see Fuel Line, p21) -which have retrofitting restrictions and a high capital investment cost; the use of unconventional fuels such as LNG, CNG, methanol (see Propulsion, pp22-24) etc-which require investment in specialised equipment and may see bunkering issues; or low sulphur distillates such as marine gas oil (MGO), which requires no capital investment but may see higher operating costs.