SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), home to the world’s top marine refuelling hub, said it is investigating a number of incidents of ships being affected by bunker fuel contamination in the port.
At least 14 ships that received tainted high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) from Singapore suffered loss of power and engine problems, fuel and oil testing firm Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) said late last week.
“After MPA was notified of the issue on 14 March, 2022, MPA immediately contacted the relevant bunker suppliers to take necessary steps to stop supplying the relevant batch of fuel and to also inform all the ships that were supplied with the fuel to exercise caution when using it,” MPA said in an emailed statement late on Sunday.
“MPA will not hesitate to take action should there be any non-compliance,” it added.
MPA did not name the suppliers. VPS earlier said 34 vessels were identified as having received HSFO deliveries over the last two months that were contaminated with up to 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Norwegian-headquartered ship insurer Skuld said on Friday that over the past two weeks it had seen an increased number of claims related to high-sulphur fuel oil loads at Singapore, which were found to be contaminated with chlorinated compounds.
Another ship insurer Gard, which said it experienced a few severe cases of main engine breakdown, also flagged similar issues.
“In some cases, the vessels even required a tow to port. The long-term effect of these contaminants on the machinery, if any, are not yet known,” Gard said.
(Reporting by Koustav Samanta; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
