BUNKERING

The loading of bunker on board a ship is a vital and critical operation. Due care must be taken to ensure safety and to mitigate the risks of oil pollution. Vessel operators should help to manage the risks involved by ensuring that all the relevant crew are familiar with the management procedures relating to bunker operations and that they have completed the appropriate training.

The purpose of bunkering is to help seafarers involved in bunkering operations to act in compliance with the appropriate regulations and industry best practices to promote safe and efficient bunkering operations.

At PE Solutions Safety is our number one priority we have instructions and procedures available to all our trained staff qualified in.

Safety Managements System (SMS).

Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP)

Ship Pollution Emergency Plan (SMPEP) as appropriate.

This guide covers the traditional bunkering of oil-based fuels such as residual and distillate fuels and their various blend.

BUNKER FUEL TYPES

FUEL HFO, MDO/MGO & AGO, and LSHFO are considered Bunker fuels, which highlights a significant proportion of the merchant fleet is powered by this fuel type.

Residual Fuel	Distillate Fuel	Marine Gasoil (MGO)	Marine Diesel Oil (MDO)
available in varying viscosities and high and low sulphur variants	marine diesel & gas oil with both high and low sulphur variants	a clear distillate and does not contain any residual component	may contain a small amount of residual fuel component

 

Residual fuels are a mix of refinery residual fuel and diluents, which are often distillates blended to meet the specification requirements of a number of different grades. Distillate fuels (which are products obtained by condensing the vapours distilled from petroleum crude oil or its products) are blends of refinery distillate streams to meet the requirements of a number of different grades, and come in two main variants:

TYPES OF BUNKERING AND BUNKER FUEL OIL

The most common type of bunkering procedure at sea, is ship to ship (STS) bunkering, where one ship acts as a terminal whilst the other moors. The second type is stern line bunkering, which is the easiest but, at the same time risky way of transferring fuel during bad weather.

REGULATION AND GUIDANCE

IMO SOLAS – Regulation of flash point and provision of Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

IMO MARPOL Annex I – Regulations for the prevention of pollution by oil

IMO MARPOL Annex VI – Regulation of air pollution from ships

ISO 8217 – Standard for marine fuels

ISO 13739 – Standard for bunkering procedures

ISO 4259 – Standard for interpretation of test analysis results

CIMAC Guideline No. 25 Recommendations on Heavy Fuel Treatment Plants