Singapore’s Floating Storage Flotilla Grows Ahead of IMO 2020
https://gcaptain.com/singapores-floating-storage-flotilla-grows-ahead-of-imo-2020/October 17, 2019
More than 30 oil tankers have anchored in the Malacca Strait off Singapore and Malaysia, according to Kpler, as traders stockpile fuel ahead of the biggest shake-up to the shipping industry in a generation.
The flotilla has been expanding for months as traders amass supplies of fuel that comply with new shipping standards — known as IMO 2020 — that take effect January 1. In April, Kpler estimated that at least five vessels laden with low-sulfur fuel oil and blending components were sitting off Singapore, one of the world’s busiest ship re-fueling ports.
IMO 2020 rules require ships to be powered by cleaner-burning fuel with less than 0.5% sulfur, compared with current industry norms of over 3%. Traders and bunker oil suppliers have been scrambling to secure fuels that can meet the new specifications, or create a blend comprising oil such as gasoil, low-sulfur fuel oil, low-sulfur crude oil, high-sulfur fuel oil and other components....
