During the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON), MPA Singapore set out its plans to drive transformation in bunkering.
As of now, Singapore is making progress on the bunkering of biofuel. Approximately 70,000 tonnes of biofuel have been supplied in Singapore to ocean-going vessels across more than 40 biofuel bunkering operations.
As part of efforts to support the multi-fuel transition towards decarbonisation, MPA together with the industry, academia, and relevant government organisations under the national standardisation programme overseen by Enterprise Singapore, have developed a provisional national quality standard for marine biofuel to support the development of biofuel bunkering.
MPA has also developed a framework setting out conditions under which licensed bunker suppliers may supply biofuel within the Port of Singapore to support trials conducted by vessels.
On quantity assurance, MPA is working with the Technical Committee for Bunkering to study the impact of biofuel on the metrological accuracy of Mass Flow Meters and is working with stakeholders to amend the SS 648: 2019 Code of Practice for Bunker Mass Flow Metering to include biofuels within its scope.
MPA is also actively looking into the reduction of energy demand which can be pursued regardless of the choice of new marine fuels. This will help shipping companies reduce costs and lower carbon emissions.
On alternative fuels, LNG is a transition fuel and Singapore is ready to supply LNG bunker, with a total of 24 ship-to-ship transfer operations in 2021. Singapore’s second LNG bunker vessel, Brassavola, was christened this week as well.
As part of a multi-fuel future, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen derived from renewables and its carriers as well as biofuels could play significant roles in the decarbonisation of global shipping
said MPA Singapore.
Accelerating digitalisation of bunkering supply chain
Along with the opening conference at SIBCON 2022, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Chee Hong Tat also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Singapore Trade Data Exchange Services (SGTraDex)1 and key industry solution providers.
The MoU seeks to promote the integration of the SGTraDex with solution providers to enable efficient data flows and systems interoperability across the bunker supply chain.
Joint oil spill exercise to test operational readiness to oil spills at sea
What is more, MPA is leading the multi-agency Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) 2022 on 7 October to test and demonstrate Singapore’s operational readiness to respond to a simulated oil spill incident resulting from a “collision” between a tanker and a bulk carrier near the Raffles Reserved Anchorage.
More than 100 personnel from the MPA, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and Singapore Police Force (SPF), together with Shell Companies in Singapore and Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) will be participating in the exercise.
During the exercise, apart from showcasing firefighting capabilities at sea, the SCDF will also be involved in the rescue and evacuation operations, including a height rescue scenario where injured crew will be rescued from the upper-deck of a vessel using a lowering system and transferred to SCDF marine vessels for evacuation.
SPF’s Police Coast Guard will provide a security cordon of the incident site. This will prevent unauthorised entry by other vessels, facilitate clean-up works, as well as ensure the safety of vessels in the vicinity.
In addition to the deployment of oil spill containment booms and skimmers around the bunker tanker, OSRL will dispatch a Hercules-C130 aircraft to perform a low level and wide-area dispersal of “oil dispersant” over the anchorage to contain the spread of the spillage.
