The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration has rooted out two cases of ships using fuel that did not comply with the new IMO 2020 regulations.
In statement issued on Friday (10 January), the Standard Club revealed that it had received reports about the incidents.
In one case, said Standard Club, the ship was under a Port State Control inspection in Qingdao when the MSA ‘verified the use of fuel oil with a sulphur content of .6777% mm’.
The MSA also found that a ship berthed in Xiamen has been burning non-compliant fuel. According to the Standard Club statement, the ship had been at berth nearly six days after changing over to compliant fuel – and it is ‘likely that previous high sulphur fuel residue remained in the engine fuel system resulting in emissions over the China ECA limit’.
Standard Club said it is ‘not clear yet’ whether the MSA will fine the ships for the IMO 2020 violations.
