Published 14 years ago, updated 6 years ago

Cruisers need to be aware of the fuel situation here in Cartagena, Colombia.

In Colombia, all diesel now contains 10% biofuel. This includes all marina and normal car outlets.

This is causing all sorts of troubles for cruisers.

We bought the fuel from two separate marina outlets. Treated both with biocide in the jerry cans, and both totally clogged the Baja filter after passing 2 litres of fuel. We have just spent 2 days filtering all the bacteria and jelly out of 210 litres in our jerry cans. It is thick. We are putting it all through a coarse filter, and then through our Baja filter, and then using Startron diesel fuel treatment. Here’s hoping.

Thank goodness only the clean Aruba fuel was in our tanks.

Even the Colombian navy is having lots of problems with the stuff and the fuel companies have experts helping them clear the blockages.

Here is a website article by Sail-World.com that highlights the dangers of biofuel and gives a right of reply to those in favour of biofuel.

Now – our trials could feasibly be simply an issue of dirty fuel from both suppliers, however, given the problems the navy is experiencing, and the first-hand experiences of a number of mechanics here, we think the root cause is likely to be the addition of biofuel to the diesel mix. Car owners are also reporting problems.

Our advice is to fill to the max in Aruba.

Dan and Yolanda Hellier

Jacana of Melbourne