UK P&I Club Webinar: Fuel Quality Part 2 - Technical Aspects of Fuel Quality Claims

The 2nd webinar on fuel quality claims held on 6th May was primarily a Q/A forum on “Technical aspects of a fuel quality claim”, following up from the 1st webinar. Anuj and Ansuman were joined this time by James Duncombe from CWA to answer the various queries raised by the audience. James is a Chemist with CWA’s Oil and Chemicals Department.

We found by the questions raised during the 1st webinar itself and subsequently in the feedback that there were still a lot of doubts and unanswered queries on the topic that needed to be cleared up. Most of these doubts seemed to be related to the practical and operational aspects of handling fuel.

We had also initiated important discussions and questions on fuel purchase standards in our last webinar. Why are people still using the older fuel standards? Is this just inertia to change or there is more to it?

There were also other queries related to various testing practices. Investigative tests such as GCMS testing pros and cons, repeatability and reproducibility issues. Adding to that, recently we are also seeing a number of cases related to piston ring and liner failures. How are these related?

James did a short presentation to explain these issues.

Ansuman raised concerns about the recent Main Engine liner damages and also hoped that the latest edition of ISO fuel standards is released soonest to address the various concerns of the new VLSFO blends.