Fears over the availability of VLSFO, voiced loudly prior to the introduction of the IMO 2020, appear to have evaporated after just two months, with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reporting few incidents of non-availability.
Ship masters who are unable to load IMO 2020 compliant fuel are required to submit a FONAR, fuel oil non-availability reports, when they are forced to load non-compliant fuel. Since the beginning of the year, when the sulphur cap was introduced, the IMO has received just 27 FONARs.
Many of the availability issues appear to be around India and Brazil, while most vessels operating during the period of the new regulation have not reported any issues.
In January there were issues in Singapore, but this was an issue with barge availability rather than compliant fuel availability.
The MABUX index shows that the spread, the cost difference between compliant VLSFO and HFO, has continued to narrow, albeit at a slow rate.
