EMEA News
European Court: De-bunkered, Off-Spec Fuel is Not Waste
A European Court of Justice ruling that off-spec bunkers do not have to be treated as waste has been applauded by the Dutch law firm AKD.
The ruling is the result of a case brought by Shell Nederland and Shell Belgium, disputing a ruling by Dutch environmental authorities ILENT that would have forced the energy companies to handle rejected diesel oil as waste rather than up-blending it to specification and selling it.
"This is a good decision for bunker suppliers," said Carel van Lynden, a partner with AKD's shipping and offshore team.
"This case reverses the very strict interpretation which ILENT had placed on off-spec bunkers.
"By insisting they were classed as waste they invoked all sorts of domestic and EU regulations for their handling which imposed disastrous and totally unnecessary costs on the bunker industry."
Van Lynden said that if off-spec bunkers are determined to be waste, they fall under environmental regulations and can only be handled only by licensed waste collectors or processors with ILENT permission to store, transport and blend them.
"A regular bunker supplier cannot take the bunkers back unless it has such licenses, which of course it has not," he said.
"So the value of the off-spec bunkers to the supplier drops to nil, and extensive costs have to be incurred for debunkering and processing."
DNV Petroleum Services (DNVPS) has warned that higher demand for low-sulfur bunkers will increase the risk of off-spec fuels.