Singapore tightens rules after bunker fuel scandal
Singapore tightens rules after bunker fuel scandal
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore, the world's top bunkering port,
announced yesterday that it was tightening procedures following
official confirmation that bunker fuel sold to some vessels here
was contaminated.
Under the new rules, bunker suppliers must now comply with
international standard specifications, Minister of State for
Trade and Industry Goh Chee Wee said.
Suppliers were required to use improved equipment and
documentation procedures for determining actual bunker quality
from fuel samples, Goh said in his opening remarks at an
international bunkering conference.
The new rules, effective Aug. 1, would be incorporated in the
Singapore Bunkering Procedure (SBP) governing the supply of fuel
oil to the more than 100,000 ships calling here annually.
The SBP was introduced jointly in 1992 by the Port of
Singapore Authority (PSA) and the Singapore National Shipping
Association, both of which earlier this month confirmed that fuel
sold here to 12 vessels was contaminated.
Several of the vessels reportedly unloaded the fuel which
caused engine damage.
Goh said that the SBP changes, which also require licensing of
all bunker craft owners and operators, would help assure high
quality bunkers to shipowners, charterers and operators.
Bunkers are barge size lots (1,000 tons) of fuel oil for
ships.
"Bunker craft owners and operators have to ensure that all
operational equipment on board their craft are maintained in good
condition, and that proper tank gauging and sampling procedures
are complied with during bunker deliveries," he said.
Competition
Industry analysts said Singapore quickly moved to resolve
problems over fuel quality to ensure that its leading position
was not threatened by increasing competition from ports in
northwestern Europe, the Middle East and South Korea.
Rotterdam continues to be competitive because of increasing
fuel oil supplies resulting from fuel substitution policies in
power generation, said the analysts at the 7th Singapore
International Bunker Conference.
The Middle East ports such as Fujairah of the United Arab
Emirates are also well placed to serve the bunker needs of
tankers loading crude oil and products, they said.
South Korea which has been aggressively expanding oil refining
capacity in recent years has surplus fuel oil for the bunker
market.
"The gap between Korea and Singapore would be narrowed in the
near future as Korean suppliers have efficient blending skills to
cut costs considerably," said T.S. Koh, bunkering manager of
Yukong Ltd., a South Korean oil refining and chemical enterprise.
U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner Ming Chen Hsu, in her
keynote address at the conference, said that the global bunker
fuel industry was set to expand even further with rapidly-
increasing international trade.
"The demand for shipping services and, consequently, for the
fuels on which those services depend, appears extremely positive.
Especially here in Asia," she said.