Posted: June 14, 2018
U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Alert - contaminated vessel fuel oil bunkers in the U.S. Gulf Coast region
The following is excerpted from a U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Alert issued June 6. The complete bulletin is available online.
This safety alert raises awareness of a significant emerging problem in the U.S. Gulf Coast region regarding contaminated vessel fuel oil bunkers. This involves blended fuel oil such as Intermediate Fuel Oil (IFO 380) and has caused fouled fuel pump plungers, fuel pump seizures and other fuel system related failures. Furthermore, the fuel may increase sediment levels at separators and fuel filters and, in some cases, may completely clog filters. The standard fuel oil test methods found in the ISO 8217 specification will not detect these underlying problems.