Jean-Philippe Roman and Jerome Leprince-Ringuet stress the importance of ‘managing the transition’ at our full London forum on 21 March.
Mr Leprince-Ringuet, Managing Director of Total Marine Fuels Global Solutions, confirmed that Total will be ready to supply its new Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) in the locations where it currently supplies High Sulfur Fuel Oil (HSFO). However, he also reminded customers that “The story will not start on 1 January. They will have to anticipate.” He added that a fuel-oil changeover plan “needs to be put in place” for each vessel.
Jean-Philippe Roman, Technical Director, Total Lubmarine, echoed Mr Leprince-Ringuet’s sentiments, further reminding the audience that when switching fuels, shipowners and operators will also have to consider lubricant choice.
“Whichever choice operators take, whether it is HSFO, VLSFO or LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), we have a solution.”
Mr Roman added that “post-transition customers will be waiting for experience in operation of the new fuels and long-term monitoring of the lubricant will be needed.”
Mr Leprince-Ringuet looked to encourage customers to speak to their suppliers in order to ensure they receive the product they want, when they need it, saying, “this new regulation is not an easy thing to deal with, it’s about managing the transition.”
Speaking on Total’s capacity and capability to supply compliant fuel options post 2020, Mr Leprince-Ringuet added, “I believe we are unique in that we can provide VLSFO, HSFO and LNG out of one business unit.”
Mr Leprince-Ringuet and Mr Roman were speaking at last week’s sold-out London-leg of the Total 2020 Global Sulfur Cap series alongside Robert Joore, General Manager Total Lubmarine and Laurene Debesse, Business Director for Northen Europe.
Serge Dal Farra, Global Marketing Director, chaired the session and Q&A.
Read the full report from our Sulfur Cap 2020 London event in this week’s TradeWinds, or listen to Jerome Leprince-Ringuet and Robert Joore discuss the key challenges of the upcoming IMO regulation with Richard Meade in this week’s Lloyd’s List Podcast.
