EMEA News
IMO 2020 puts IBIA Conference in Spotlight
Shipowners and bunker industry players accept IMO 2020 is coming and are ready to adapt is how the overall flavour the International Bunkering Industry Association conference in Copenhagen was put by Lloyd's List.
The voice of the shipowner sent two reporters to the event, an acknowledgement, perhaps, of the significance of sulfur cap rule change on both sides of the industry.
Chief correspondent Richard Clayton said it was clear from the conference that the bunker industry accepted IMO 2020. And he cited as evidence a comment by Keld Demant, of Bunker Holdings, who said in the leadership session that players should already be ready for IMO 2020 because, if they're not, they will be left behind.
For shipowners, deciding which fuel is best is not straightforward as every ship is different.
"Every owner has to go through his or her fleet and decide what is best for that ship," he said in a Lloyd's List podcast.
In the same podcast, Lloyd's List reporter Anastassios Adamopoulos said that IMO 2020 and fuel quality remain a concern, and one which was amplified by the summer's 'bad bunkers' case.
However, he said fuel testing agency VPS, which spoke at Copenhagen, had said that from its initial investigation, the bad fuel at Houston pointed to an upstream source of contamination.
The more general concern for shipowners and ship operators is knowing where along the fuel supply chain fuel quality problems may arise, the reporter said.
