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.