Ostende and red diesel - BEWARE

Bru

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Marine diesel (gas oil) sold on tidal waters is/should be FAME-free; that sold on non-tidal/inland waters will contain FAME.

Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) and Gas Oil are two different products.

MDO is a blend of gas oil and heavy fuel oil

Marine Gas Oil is a low sulphur FAME free fuel

Gas Oil aka Red Diesel can be MGO. It can also be, and frequently is, supplied from the same tanks as DERV fuel

The only refinery in the UK currently supplying MGO is Fawley and few marine outlets beyond the South Coast offer guaranteed FAME free MGO or MDO

Unless an outlet specifically states that it's fuel is FAME free it potentially sends probably isn't
 

Simi

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fame free may be more difficult to find come April when we all will be filling with white which is more likely to be not fame free
 

Momac

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Bru

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I emailed Cowes fuel barge to see what is in the diesel they sell, it seems a bit inconclusive:

It's about as conclusive as it gets unless they're selling explicitly FAME free fuel

That's because the short answer to "how much FAME is in my gas oil" is "nobody knows"

Unless a storage tank (or tanks) is set aside and only used for FAME free fuel from the sole (afaik) supplier in the UK (Fawley), the amount of FAME in a tank of gas oil could be anything from 0% to 7%.

It's increasingly unlikely to be 0% though!

This is because in order to meet targets on renewables, the refineries and bulk distributors add varying amounts of FAME to gas oil. If they're on target with their DERV etc sales, they won't add much if any, if they're behind they'll add more up to 7%.

And the above assumes that what you're buying as gas oil is actually gas oil and not DERV because they can substitute the latter for the former. Not that we'd notice, the difference in specifications is largely irrelevant, other than that DERV *will* have 7% FAME in it

So what's in a distributors tank of gas oil is anybody's guess

And who knows at this stage what the impact of the changes to who can use "red" diesel will have. Of a certainty it reduces the market for "red" substantially and that may impact on the availability of true gas oil with DERV being substituted more often
 

sailorman

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Just a heads up, a friend of our was in Ostende about 2 weeks ago. He was the only UK boat there.

Had the usual visit from customs - then they asked about what diesel was in his tanks, he then produced the receipt but it didn't make any difference. Fined for having red diesel.

500 Euro fine + tankage.

New finance minister apparently and is very anti red diesel usage. They even fined two Belgian yachts with red in their tanks.
is he member of the RYA
 

Daydream believer

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just spent 5wks in Belgium and Netherlands, returned end of july, were visited once, and only passport and boat registry checked, they said they were not interested in diesel. passports stamped on entry and exit without any issues.
Likewise. 4 weeks over august, start & finished Ostend. Apart from the hassle of filling in forms electronically & making sure they went through OK, then walking to the border post, by the railway station, it all went OK. Some officials walked by, on the pontoon in Ostend & asked if we had had passports stamped, but did not want to look when we said, "yes". They just went away again. No mention of wanting to see docs, or what fuel etc.
 

Old Harry

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But have you just been lucky? Having said that 2 seasons ago my mate went mast up from Zeebrugge to Den Helder and also was not challenged although when I was with him we witnessed a 'boarding' by the Old Bill in the Noordzeekanal..... But as someone suggested in a previous thread it may have been drugs related. They were only on board for 10 minutes.

I hear what you say TG, we are operating outside the EU regulations, but surely common sense should prevail. British boats are always likely to have even a residue of red diesel after a North Sea crossing. Clearly if the OP is correct and I'm not doubting in any way, as the diesel was duty paid and the Skipper was still fined, we are the victims of a higher level dispute, between the burocrats of Brussels and the Department of Trade or is it just a local 'jobs worth' ?
no notice from those who don't know, not enough first hand, but info
Imo, and mostlyhearsay
 
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