Bunker fuel quality – theory and practice

Training program “Bunker fuel quality – theory and practice” was arranged by Russian Association of marine and river Bunker Suppliers. It was held in St. Petersburg on May 16-17. Representatives of bunker market from eight port regions of Russia including St. Petersburg, Taganrog, Novorossiysk, Temryuk, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk participated in the program. The majority of specialists predictably represented independent bunker companies but there were representatives of Rosneft (Rosneft – Arkhangelsknefteproduct LLC) and Det Norske Veritas, a world known company providing legal and audit services as well as management organization services. Among the participants of the program there were top-managers of bunker companies –general directors, their deputies on production and commercial issues, heads of departments responsible for fuel preparation and transportation. Besides, the course was attended by medium-level managers.

Vitaly Kovalev, president of Rosmorrechbunker, comments on the event: “Our Association is not an educational center so we develop educational program only when the issue is urgent for branch specialists. This time our task was not only to give theoretical knowledge about correct operation with bunker fuel but also to demonstrate it in practice.” The first day of the course was dedicated to the theory. Tommy Christensen, acknowledged international expert, told about world tendencies related to introduction of MARPOL Annex VI and about the methods of bunker service efficiency improvement. Andrei Mityukov, representative of Saybolt laboratory told about monitoring and how to ensure quality and quantity of bunker when carrying out transportation-and-transshipment operations. The second day was completely dedicated to the site visits – Petersburg Oil Terminal, Saybolt laboratory and oil tank farm the Bunker Company from St Petersburg. The program’s participants saw quality control procedure, organization of different technologies, had the possibility to ask questions and get direct answers. As far as I know, visiting of bunker companies by such a large team of branch specialists is a kind of a precedent in Russia. It proves maturity of the market and openness of its leaders operating in compliance with current legislation, Kovalev said.

Representatives of port authorities assisted a lot in organization of site visits. Transportation from the 4th district of the port to the Volodarski bridge at the Neva river was carried out by Radist motor boat provided by the Port’s Marine Administration. Such organizational decision was admired by the participants as for many of them it was the first possibility to sea the port from water. “Of course, we could arrange such a course without the port’s Administration or our colleagues. I’m very grateful to Peter Parinov, Head of the port's Administration; Alexander Glukhov, Captain of the port; Igor Teleshev, Director General of Petersburg Oil Terminal CJSC; Dmitri Khudonogov, Deputy Director of Saybolt St. Petersburg branch. I hope for further development of such cooperation”, Kovalev said.