IBIA CONVENTION: New ISO 8217:2024 Bunker Specifications Could Come as Early as Q1

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday November 9, 2023

The bunker market could see a new version of ISO 8217 specifications for its products as soon as the first quarter of next year, according to marine fuels firm Integr8 Fuels.

Chris Turner, bunker quality and claims manager at Integr8, discussed the prospect of the new specifications at the IBIA Annual Convention 2023 in Dubai on Wednesday.

The ISO 8217 specifications last had a new full version published in 2017.

Since then the VLSFO market has emerged with the IMO 2020 transition, and shipping firms have also increasingly started to use blends of biofuels mixed with conventional bunkers, and the new ISO document is expected to cover both of these developments.

"The 2024 specs are on the horizon," Turner said at the conference.

"Sometime in Q1, I'm hearing, maybe Q2."

One of the key changes in the new specifications will be that the presence of FAME will be allowed up to 100% in marine fuels, Wajdi Abdmessih, founder and president of Seahawk Services, said at the conference. The 2017 version of the ISO tables only allowed FAME at up to 7% in distillate marine fuels.

Another important development will be a clause being added on the presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons, thought to be behind Singapore's HSFO contamination problems last year, Abdmessih added.

A draft version of what will be ISO 8217:2024 is available on the ISO website here: https://www.iso.org/standard/80579.html

Ship & Bunker News Team
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