ViswaLab Urges Shipowners to Vote Against Changes to Quality Clause 5 in ISO8217

Raghuvir Bhavnani, VP of Viswalab Singapore urges shipowners to vote against a change to the wording of clause 5 in ISO 8217:2010.

Raghuvir Bhavnani, Vice President of Viswalab Singapore Pte Ltd (Viswa Lab) has called on shipowners to vote against a change to the wording of clause 5 in ISO 8217:2016.

Bhavnani says the change would see reference to safety of the ship, adverse effects on machinery performance, harm to personnel, and contribution to air pollution from contaminated bunkers, all dropped from the current specification.

As Ship & Bunker previously reported, Bhavnani argues that the proposed changes to Clause 5 and Annex B of ISO8217:2010 are lopsided in favour of bunker suppliers, protecting them from penalty if engine failure occurs as a result of poor quality or contaminated bunker fuel.

Bhavnani says that bunkers of poor quality that still meet ISO8217 specification are "not rare," and users end up at a loss when such poor quality bunkers damage ship machinery.

"Such cases of machinery damage lead to disputes between ship owners and suppliers. Supplier's defence is generally that the test requirements of ISO 8217 have been met and thus is absolved of any responsibilities for damage to the machinery," explained Bhavnani.

Bhavnani points out that, under ISO 8217:2010, shipowners and bunker users have a degree of protection from contaminated bunkers if they can establish, among other things, that the supplied marine fuel led to one of the following:

• Puts the safety of the ship in jeopardy or adversely affects the performance of the machinery
• Is harmful to personnel
• Contributes to overall additional air pollution

Under the revised version of the regulation, however, Bhavnani says that the omitted wording results in the bunker users losing that protection, with the amended clause stating only that the fuel should be free from any material at concentration that causes a fuel to be "unacceptable," adding that this requirement is then negated by a note that states that what is "unacceptable" has not yet been defined.

Bhavnani says the amended version implies "that any chemical at any concentration may be present and the user has to live with it and the supplier will be shielded by any claims for damages due to bad quality of the fuels."

"I strongly recommend that the user community (shipowners) through their national or flag state or classification society to vote against the change," Bhavnani concluded.

Bhavnani also encourages shipowners to put forward other alterations to the document as they see fit, including requirements for a "reduction in cat-fine levels, determining the cloud point and cold filter plugging point, reduction in permissible water levels, more effective tests for acidity," as well as a list of unacceptable blend components.

In October, it was reported that International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) Chairman Jens Maul Jørgensen said "lots of suppliers say that they cannot get the ISO 8217:2010 specs because the refiners and cargo traders will only sell to them under the 2005 spec," adding that a regulation on quality from IMO is needed.