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Speaking at the opening address of the 22nd Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON), Singapore Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Chee Hong Tat, outlined three key areas of focus as part of a strategy to tackle the near-term challenges in the bunker sector.
Chee highlighted the Port of Singapore’s status as the largest bunker supplier by volume, noting that in 2021, more than 50 million metric tonnes of marine fuel, including LNG, was sold at the bunker hub.
Looking ahead, Chee said the global environment had become more uncertain – and that Maritime Singapore needs to continue transforming to remain relevant as a global hub port and international maritime centre.
Chee identified three key areas – ‘providing quality assurance; enhancing services through digitalisation; and taking steps to kick start our decarbonisation journey’ – which he said would guide Singapore’s efforts to tackle the near-term challenges.
Regarding fuel quality, Chee alluded to the bunker contamination cases which had affected Singapore earlier this year.
‘MPA and the Singapore Shipping Association are co-chairing an industry expert group to strengthen fuel quality checks,’ said Chee. ‘The group aims to make its recommendations to strengthen the quality assurance of bunkers supplied in Singapore by the first quarter of next year.’
Turning to digitalisation, Chee said Singapore would push on with its efforts to digitalise bunkering services. He highlighted the MINT Fund Call-For-Proposal, launched last year, to enhance end-to-end operations efficiency and transparency in the bunker industry. Projects that are currently on trial include the development of mobile and cloud applications to digitalise documentations such as electronic bunker delivery note (e-BDN), as well as the development of next generation data-loggers for the Mass Flow Meter (MFM) systems.
‘These trials have been progressing well,’ said Chee. ‘One of the supported companies, Bunkerchain, a local start-up, will be signing a collaboration MOU today with its project partner, S&P Global Market Intelligence. Together, they aim to develop the world’s first digital identities for vessels tied to the IMO Database called Marine Vessel Pass (MVP). This could enable vessels to do away with wet ink ship stamps and physical signatures.’
Chee continued: ‘We are also supporting another company, Angsana Technology, which is working to enable the verification of the e-BDN through integration with TradeTrust – a blockchain-based digital utility comprising of globally-accepted standards and frameworks which have been implemented for HealthCerts.’
These solutions, said Chee, will help to cut red tape, improve efficiency by simplifying workflows and documentation, as well as automate regulatory reporting processes, and can help users to save time and save money.
Thirdly, Chee addressed the challenge of achieving medium-term GHG emissions reduction. He noted that the shipping industry is exploring innovative methods to reduce carbon emissions and reach our decarbonisation targets.
‘This is not only for the shipping and maritime industry, but actually for all industries – it is a global effort that we need to embark on,’ said Chee.
‘For companies, they can reduce fuel consumption through optimising operations and adopting technologies that increase energy efficiency. During a recent trip to Tokyo with our representatives from unions and the Singapore Shipping Association, I learnt FOR IMMEDIATE REPORTING 3 that age-old technology such as sails and kites are making a comeback to help vessels harness wind energy and solar energy.’
These initiatives, said Chee, can help to reduce energy demand and reap lifecycle cost savings and can be pursued regardless of the choice of marine fuels.
‘They help shipping companies to reduce costs and lower carbon emissions, which is good for business and also good for the environment. Saving money and reducing carbon emissions – I think it is a win-win.’
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