“Bunker suppliers and users need to conduct early trials. Don’t treat the new green fuels as the same as fossil fuels which they are not. Understanding these new fuels is very important and then building the required quality control measures and management practices is key,” suggests Capt. Rahul Choudhuri, President, Strategic Partnerships, Veritas Petroleum Services.

Fuel complexities are changing with the sulphur limit regulations. How are they impacting fuel blending?

The primary Sulphur level changes came in 2020 with the global IMO implementation of 0.5% Sulphur limit. This has resulted in the advent of the so called Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil or VLSFO which is now the most popular low Sulphur fuel for shipping. Our test records show that 60% of global fuels fall in this category. The VLSFO is a blended fuel to meet the lower Sulphur but come with other challenges such as cold flow & stability due to being more paraffinic in nature.

How is the scenario changing for fuel quality management in the coming days?

The greater the fuels are blended the greater the need to pay attention to how marine fuel are managed & used onboard vessels. Top quality shipowners have detailed quality control checks in place where they not only follow basic ISO Standards, but also conduct additional quality tests that are above and beyond these. We call these the Additional Protection Package (APS) & these are individually tailored to whether you are using the VLSFO, or other fuels types such as HSFO or MGO.

What will be the new challenges for bunker suppliers in adapting with low sulphur fuels? What will be the change in skillsets required?

This will really depend on the types of future green fuels that will come into the marine market.

Each type of green fuel such as Biofuels, Methanol or Ammonia will need a new set of skills. So, training and quality of seafarers will need to be upgraded substantially as the consequence of an accident or mistake e.g. using Ammonia as a fuel will be catastrophic.

What will be the new safety, technical and commercial challenges related to use of low sulphur fuels?

Let us take Biofuels as an example.

The use of Biofuels has picked up speed over the last few years. We have seen an increase in our testing of Biofuels more than double last year. The Biofuels volumes in the Port of Singapore grew almost 5 times last year. The Port of Rotterdam saw their volumes double. Overall last year global Biofuels supplied to vessels was about 3 million metric tons. Although this is still small in a marine industry where 300 million metric tons of fuels is supplied every year, the momentum is picking up.

The safety, technical & commercial challenges will follow the new green fuels. Each will be different.

Again, if we take Biofuels as an example, we see that the key technical challenges will be related to fuel stability as they can form water emulsions & cause microbial growth & corrosion. So, storage period can be a constraint. But these are not insurmountable if proper quality controls of Biofuels are put in place. We call these the Biofuels-APS Program. But to reiterate, these Biofuels are not fossil fuels and a new understanding is needed.

Commercially the industry will need to pay more for e.g. Biofuels which presently have a 30-40% premium. Also, issues like lower energy content needs to be considered.

Five years down the lane which type of fuels will be largely in demand and available for supply? What type of fuel mix is expected to emerge in the coming years?

It does seem that Biofuels have an inherent advantage as they are an easy ‘drop in’ fuels and can be blended into existing marine fuels. This is like Biofuels blends used in the automotive industry for many years. So, the technology and use are already there.

Other green fuels such as Methanol and Ammonia are at various stages of development. e.g. The port of Singapore did the first Methanol bunkering middle of last year. We were also involved at that time, and were hired by Maersk, to do the end-to-end quantity & quality control. So, procedures are already being put in place.

Last month, the Port of Singapore conducted the first Ammonia as fuel bunkering operation.

What will be the advantages and risks for early movers in adapting the low sulphur fuels?

There is a big advantage for early movers. e.g. about 15% of our ship owning clients have already tried and tested use of Biofuels on their vessels. This allows them to understand the characteristics and behavior of these green Biofuels, so they are ready to adopt it at a larger scale quite quicky.

There is also the green profiling and sustainable reporting that is gaining in importance.

The risk is probably linked to the commercial cost of such trials and additional management time and effort on all parties. But the benefits are obvious I would think.

As an expert, what is your advice to the bunker suppliers and users?  

They need to conduct early trials. Be early movers and do your homework. As I mentioned, don’t treat the new green fuels e.g. Biofuels as the same as fossil fuels which they are not. So, understanding these new fuels in very important & then building the required quality control measures and management practices is key.

Tell us about the role of Veritas Petroleum Services in providing cleaner alternative sources of fuel to the global market?

We are not a fuel supplier. VPS provides decarbonization services that looks at alternative fuel quality control in terms of testing, software solution to reduce emissions by energy efficiency & hardware solutions to measure all emissions as accurately as possible. Our tools will enhance the sustainability position of shipping companies in an era where this focus is fast becoming mandatory to survive the future decarbonization targets set by the IMO.

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