The marine fuels testing business has grown greatly over the years in part due to the ever decreasing quality of marine residual fuels and now the regulations with regards to sulphur content and the environment.  Competition is keen amongst the major players in the game such as DNVPS, FOBAS, Lintech, Viswa.  As in any business transaction customers are seeking the least expensive price per sample however, in many cases overlooking the "value added" services provided when negotiating such contracts.

Enter BV with Inspectirate into this already crowded market. Inspectorate maintains labs worldwide in the testing of many commodities one in particular petroleum. One possible advantadge to thier worldwide operations is speed in service especially with regards to simple testing such as sullphur content of both distillates and resdiuals and the routine parameters of marine residuals such as density, viscosity, flash point, ash and elements. The transport of fuel samples in some areas is becoming increasingly difficult.

The industry will be watching this move with mixed speculation and reservations.  When choosing a fuel testing service always keep in mind the importance of the aforementioned value added services such as technical support, expert witness availability and the firms participation in major working groups such as ISO, IMO, CIMAC.

Bottom line?  Theres more to fuel testing than running the tests and cranking out reports.