The ICS along with the P&I Clubs and Denmark are drafting a paper to submit to the IMO Legal Committee, ( Leg114 – Feb 2027), to include BioFuel into the 2001 Bunker convention. At present BioFuels are not covered and there is a risk of exposure for any pollution caused when a ship is operating on 100% BioFuel.

See comments below: –

The draft paper highlights the definition of “bunker oil” in the 2001 Bunkers Convention (the Bunkers Convention), noting that Article 1(5) defines “bunker oil” as “any hydrocarbon mineral oil, including lubricating oil, used or intended to be used for the operation or propulsion of the ship and any “residues of such oils”.
As pure Biofuels do not contain hydrocarbon mineral oil, they fall outside this definition, and an amendment to the Bunkers Convention would be required to bring them within its scope.

This also includes all other non-hydrocarbon fuels ie, Ethanol, Methanol and Ammonia. It may take some time for these new fuels to be covered by an expanded Bunker Convention but they need to be as ships are already starting to use them.

What is BioFuel?

The most common marine BioFuels are Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) – (biodiesel) and Hydrotreated Vegetable oil – (renewable diesel). The Marine Environment and Protection Committee (MEPC) has agreed, for the purpose of the unified interpretation contained in MEPC.1/Circ.795/Rev.9, that a BioFuel is :-

“a fuel oil which is derived from biomass and hence includes, but is not limited to, processed used cooking oils, fatty-acid-methyl-esters (FAME) or fatty-acid-ethyl-esters (FAEE), straight vegetable oils (SVO), hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO), glycerol or other biomass to liquid (BTL) type products.”

Unlike traditional fuel oils these marine BioFuels are not produced directly or indirectly from fossilised organic material, and as such are not hydrocarbon mineral oils. However, when marine BioFuels are blended with conventional fossil fuels in different percentages to create fuels for use as a maritime fuel, they are covered by the 2001 Bunker Convention because the fossil fuel segment is covered.

The 2001 Bunker Convention

The 2001 Bunker Convention is a liability and compensation regime for pollution damage caused by Hydrocarbon bunker oil carried on board a ship. During the development of the Convention a key objective was to provide a mechanism by which coastal States can be assured that all visiting vessels have the means to compensate States for bunker oil damage.
The main types of pollution damage likely to be covered are:-

1. Clean-up and preventive measures;
2. Property damage;
3. Consequential losses;
4. Pure economic loss;
5. Environmental damage and post-spill studies; and
6. Use of advisers.

When spilled into the marine environment BioFuels and BioFuel blends typically behave in a similar manner to traditional fuel oil and the damage profile will be like traditional bunker fuels. So, if a ship is operating on 100% Biofuel and a pollution incident occurs there maybe considerable uncovered exposure until the 2001 Bunker Convention is updated to include them.