Flash point of marine fuel
The 60 degrees C flash point floor under SOLAS II-2/4.2.1, the 43 degrees C emergency exception, ISO 2719 testing and the 2026 supplier declaration regime.
The flash point of a marine fuel is the lowest temperature at which its vapour forms an ignitable mixture with air under the closed cup test, and it is the single fuel property that carries a direct SOLAS prohibition. SOLAS Chapter II-2 Regulation 4.2.1.1 provides that, except as otherwise permitted by that paragraph, no oil fuel with a flashpoint of less than 60 degrees C shall be used.
The full article will set out the exceptions in order: Regulation 4.2.1.2 permitting fuel of not less than 43 degrees C in emergency generators, and 4.2.1.3 and 4.2.1.4 permitting the same floor for emergency fire pump engines and auxiliary machines outside category A machinery spaces on named conditions. It will explain why MARPOL carries no flash point rule of its own, a point the industry frequently gets wrong, and it will cover the ISO 2719 Pensky-Martens closed cup method and the difference between its procedures for distillate and residual fuel.
The article will then cover the documentation regime, which changed twice in quick succession: the addition of flashpoint to the bunker delivery note by resolution MEPC.362(79) with effect from 1 May 2024, and the supplier declaration, the confirmed case definition and the reporting duties introduced into SOLAS Chapter II-2 by resolutions MSC.520(106) and MSC.550(108) with effect from 1 January 2026. It links to marine gas oil .