FONAR Filings Do Not Reflect True Scale of VLSFO Shortages: BIMCO

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday March 10, 2020

The fact that relatively few fuel oil non-availability reports (FONARs) mentioning a lack of 0.50% sulfur fuels have been filed to flag states so far should not be taken as an indicator of good very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) availability worldwide, according to shipping industry association BIMCO.

"Despite announcements regarding how few FONARs had been issued by Flag States, this did not represent a true measure of the lack of worldwide VLSFO availability since it did not reflect situations where owners had to wait or divert to find fuel," the organisation said in a statement on its website on Monday.

"It also failed to reflect the extreme efforts shipowners were making to plan and find compliant fuels at their intended trading ports.

Shipowners can file a FONAR to their flag state if they are unable to find fuel that complies with the new 0.50% sulfur limit for bunkers and want to burn high sulfur fuel oil instead; while the flag state will take the FONAR into account when deciding whether or not to prosecute the shipowner, it is not guaranteed that it will be accepted in every case.

Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at editor@shipandbunker.com