Americas News
IMO2020: Houston's GCC Sees Early Interest in VLSFO Offering
Houston-based low sulfur specialists, GCC Bunkers (GCC), says it is seeing early interest from buyers for their IMO2020 compliant 0.50%S product offering.
The interest has already translated into a firm supply commitment, Zach Stansbury, Senior Trader, has told Ship & bunker, with the supplier having recently closed a deal with Seaboard Marine.
"There is so much uncertainty in the marine fuel markets today, but we believe having reliable partners is one of the best paths to alleviating risk. Therefore, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to supply a high quality, reliable VLSFO solution to Seaboard Marine in Houston in 2020," says Stansbury.
While many details of the deal, such as price and volume, remain confidential, Stansbury confirmed that GCC will have VLSFO available on a long term basis from a Gulf Coast processing facility.
Some typicals for the product include:
- Sulfur: < 0.50%
- Density: 904.2 kg/m3 (25.0 API)
- Viscosity: 40-80 cSt
- Cat Fines / AL+SI: < 20 mg/kg
- Reserve Stability Number: < 5
- Total Sediment Potential: < 0.1
GCC also offers 0.10%S products, and Stansbury says in the post-2020 market it will also continue to offer HSFO bunkers on contract.
"Since the founding of our organization, GCC has been positioned to provide low-sulfur fuel solutions to its customers, and our agreement with Seaboard Marine was the next step in leading the way forward into 2020 in the US Gulf Coast," says Stansbury.
The new global 0.50% sulfur cap for marine fuel comes into effect on January 1, 2020.
