Refuelling

The quality of the diesel in your tank is an important safety issue. Regulations are changing, and we all need to ask questions about the fuel we are buying. You can help by gathering information about what's going on in the real world and feeding it back to help negotiations with the authorities. The Cruising Association is lobbying the government, and now's our chance to show the Little Ship Club can be influential too by co-operating with them.

As from this month, following the European Directive 2009/30/EC, a new grade of diesel with very low sulphur and an increased percentage of bio diesel (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester, or FAME) will be widely supplied. Boats going to sea are allowed to use diesel with higher sulphur content, but the supply arrangements will be complex, and marinas and fuel suppliers are adopting a wide variety of policies over how they manage it.

The strong recommendation is to ask your fuel supplier for information in writing about the following:

  • what is the age and sulphur content of the fuel ?
  • does it need any additives (to make up for the reduction in sulphur content and/or FAME content), and have any additives been blended in ?
  • does it contain FAME, if so how much ?


If Little Ship Club skippers can gather this information and feed it back, we can support the CA and others in lobbying for regulations that miminise the problems that could result from the changes.

It's important because low suphur diesel with higher FAME content is much more susceptible to the growth of "diesel bug" biological contamination, which can damage your engine, or worse cause blockages in the fuel supply which stop it working. Needless to say this could be dangerous. Read the press release from the CA for more details on the problems that these diesel specifications could cause.

At the very least, it may require significantly different management regimes, such as draining the tank over the winter rather than topping it up as we do now. This is because the shelf life of the new grades are much reduced. As many of us in sailing yachts don't use much diesel, the RYA recommendation to turn over the contens of the tank every 6 months may be difficult to achieve (see advice from the RYA crusing section). Also the recommendation to change fuel seals on older engines is a tall order for some of us. Use of a fuel conditioning and bacterial growth inhibiting additive may become a routine requirement.

Marina companies are adopting different policies in fuel supply. MDL obtain all their diesel from Shell via their distrubutor Emo Oils, and have negotiated the supply of low sulphur diesel that is FAME free. This will be supplied to all their marinas, and they appear to have the situation under control and are planning to provide clear information to their berth holders. Download a copy of a statement from MDL marinas.

Premier marinas also have a policy which covers all their marinas, though the grade supplied at Chichester will be different from their other locations as it is the only one of their marinas classified as inland (category C). All their other marinas will supply FAME free diesel with a sulphur content of 1000 ppm, ie unchanged quality. At Chichester, they will initially supply low sulphur diesel with a small percentage of FAME (<2%), which will be pre-blended with a fuel additive to inhibit bacterial growth. (The additive is Soltron, see their website here). After August 2011, they will switch to FAME free diesel at Chichester.

Yachthavens group head office response to an enquiry was that they could not supply general information and it would be necessary to ask each marina individually. So it will be important to ask the questions as described in the CA press release before purchasing fuel at their marinas.

Dean & Reddyhoff (marinas at Haslar, East Cowes,Weymouth and Portland did not reply to enquiries about this subject, so again individual enquiries are advised before purchase.

Other smaller or independent marinas or fuel suppliers will have their own policy. Again the advice is to request clear information on the composition of the fuel before filling your tank.

This is where your help will be invaluable. Please give us feedback on what your supplier says in answer to the questions above, and we will co-operate with the CA in their representations to the government. This will be much more effective if it is based on good information about what is happening "in the real world".

You can feed back by posting a comment to this story, (click the link at the bottom of this page) or email biodiesel@littleshipclub.co.uk . Please give the name and location of the supplier and the answers to the three questions, as above:

  • what is the age and sulphur content of the fuel ?
  • does it need any additives (to make up for the reduction in sulphur content and/or FAME content), and have any additives been blended in) ?
  • does it contain FAME, if so how much ?
     

To learn more, here is some further reading:

The CA press release
Boating Business on the potential problems
Boating Business article on the DfT approach
Advice from the RYA
Updated advice from the RYA published 16 February