Beating diesel bug if ‘not at sea’
The UK’s Premier Marinas group has awarded a major fuel supply contract to regional fuels and lubricants distributor WP Marine.
Premier Marinas owns and operates eight marinas across the South Coast, at Brighton, Eastbourne, Chichester, Southsea, Gosport, Port Solent, Swanwick and Falmouth.
Premier sells fuel at cost to its berth holders as part of its Premier Advantage savings and benefits scheme and WP Marine, a trading division of the WP Group, has been appointed to supply fuel to five marinas; Swanwick, Southsea, Gosport, Port Solent and Chichester.
Pete Bradshaw, Premier Marinas’ managing director said, ‘Aside from maintaining high standards for storing fuel, Premier also pays particular attention to the source of its fuel supplies and to new developments in fuel technology.
‘The new EU Fuel Directive that came into force at the beginning of the year provided us with an ideal opportunity to review our fuel strategy and to instigate some changes to the fuels we supply.
‘Whilst many of our marinas were not affected by the new legislation, we found that there were new fuel technologies that boost fuel efficiencies and inhibit marine contaminants that can cause problems for our customers’ boat engines. We were pleased to find that WP Marine were able to help on both counts with the Advanced Marine Diesel range and the additive Soltron.’
Besides the supply of Advanced Marine Diesel 1000 to four of Premier’s marinas, WP Marine is to supply Premier’s 1,000 berth Chichester Marina with a bespoke low sulphur fuel, called Advanced Marine Diesel 10.
The switch to low sulphur marine diesel was required under the new EU Directive as Chichester Marina was classified by the Department of Transport as ‘not at sea’. Through WP Marine, Advanced Marine Diesel 10 and Advanced Marine Diesel 1000 will contain the additive Soltron, a decontaminant and preventative treatment for ‘diesel bug’, regarded as an engine’s ‘worst nightmare’.
The bug is caused by microbial growth feeding on the inherent biological content of marine diesel, forming a slime that can block fuel filters and cause engine failure. Soltron is an advanced enzyme fuel technology developed to work in marine fuel oil to neutralise bacterial growth and enhance fuel efficiency.
WP Marine supplies marine diesel (Red Diesel, Gas Oil) direct to the major ports and marinas along the South Coast.
WP Marine complies with the latest MARPOL regulations, including MARPOL Annex VI. Its virtually sulphur-free marine Red Diesel (below 10ppm) meets EU Directive 2009/30/EC, and contains less than 2% FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester or Biodiesel). WP Marine also offers Soltron to help protect engines from diesel bug,
