IBIA Lobbies IMO on Bunker Fuel Safety and Sampling Guidelines

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday May 29, 2023

Industry body IBIA has submitted several proposals to this week's Maritime Safety Committee meeting at the IMO seeking to improve new flashpoint regulations and draft sampling guidelines on fuel oil deliveries.

The MSC meeting this week is set to discuss measures relating to fuel oil flashpoint limits, and the discussion may move on to other quality parameters as well, IBIA said in an emailed statement on Friday. The meeting is being held at the IMO's London headquarters from May 31 to June 9.

"We have observed that the regulatory text for information to be provided by the bunker supplier regarding flashpoint is causing a lot of confusion," IBIA said in the statement.

"We have therefore proposed a unified interpretation (UI) of SOLAS chapter II-2 to help clarify the meaning of the regulatory text, and we are asking for a corresponding UI to be approved for MARPOL Annex VI, which has added a flashpoint documentation requirement for the bunker delivery note."

IBIA has also submitted proposals regarding the sampling location suggested in draft guidelines.

"Our paper, having described the issues in detail, concludes by proposing that the joint MSC-MEPC Guidelines should allow the sampling equipment to be positioned at the bunker manifold of either the receiving ship or the bunker tanker, as agreed between the receiving ship and supplier in advance," the organisation said.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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