Lintec Warns Against Compromise on Fuel-Testing Quality in Credit Crunch

LEADING fuel testing agency Lintec Testing Services has warned that owners, operators and charterers should not be tempted as a result of financial pressures induced by the global credit crunch into using non-accredited laboratories for fuel testing and analysis.

Geoff Jones, managing director of Lintec, says, “With the marine industries, like all others, under acute financial pressure at the moment, it is no surprise to find that some sectors of the shipping industry are contemplating whether it is worth forgoing quality for a lower perceived price. The answer must be ‘No’.

“Quality really does matter. The minimum entry level for any testing agency must be a documented Quality Management System (QMS). This is designed to ensure that, at a basic level, the quality, administrative and technical systems which govern the operations of a testing agency are well-documented. The next tier is certification of the management system for conformity to an international standard, usually ISO 9001:2000, recently superseded by ISO 9001:2008.

“But since 2005 the ‘gold standard’ has been ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (E), which specifies the requirements for competence to carry out testing in a manner not covered by ISO 9001. ISO 17025 is used as a measure to recognise the technical competence of a testing agency and is designed to give customers confidence in the test house.

“Lintec’s UK laboratory has been operating to ISO /IEC 17025 standards since 2005. We are now awaiting the final piece in the jigsaw, which is the audit by UK Accreditation Services. This is expected in early 2009. Meanwhile, our laboratories in Rotterdam, Shanghai and Singapore are already accredited to this level.

“Such are the standards to which fuel-testing agencies should aspire. Employing a non-accredited laboratory for your bunker testing may result in a vessel burning poor-quality fuel, with all the ensuing operational and commercial difficulties this brings with it.”

Lintec Testing Services is provides fuel testing services, providing shipowners and charterers with an independent, high quality and rapid response global fuel testing programme. Lintec is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITS Testing Services (UK) Ltd. It has a global network with laboratories in the UK, Rotterdam, Singapore and Shanghai, providing a 24 hour global bunker fuel testing service.

PHOTO: Geoff Jones, LINTEC Managing Director