Singapore launches new standards to spruce up bunkering supply chain

[SINGAPORE] The world's largest marine refuelling hub of Singapore has launched two new standards to boost quality assurance and confidence in the bunker supply chain, government agencies said on Wednesday.

Singapore Standard 660 (SS 660), the first of its kind, covers the upstream process for marine fuel, or bunker, cargo delivery from the oil terminal to the bunker tanker through a mass flow meter (MFM), the agencies, which included the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), said in a joint statement.

The standard aims to harmonise quantity measurement methods at oil terminals to improve accuracy and inventory management while stepping up quality assurance through fuel sampling to ensure that agreed fuel specifications are met.

The second standard, Technical Reference 80 (TR 80), reflects the requirements and procedures for MFM verification using a master MFM to verify and check the stability and performance of meters on a bunker tanker or at an oil terminal.

TR 80, another first among standards, offers a more efficient and cost effective way to recalibrate MFM aboard ships or at oil terminals.

"We are confident that the new standards, which support the use of mass flow meters, will boost bunker quantity assurance and reinforce Singapore's position as a leading bunkering hub of the world," said Daknashamoorthy Ganasen, an MPA senior director.

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Singapore became the first port to mandate the use of MFMs in 2017 to boost transparency in the notoriously opaque industry, making the meters compulsory for marine fuel oil bunker barges licensed by the MPA.

"These two new standards are also envisioned to be new additions to (the International Organization for Standardization) MFM bunkering standards that are led by Singapore, contributing to betterment of the global bunkering environment," said Seah Khen Hee, chairman of the Technical Committee for Bunkering.

REUTERS