Singapore: MFM to cover distillate bunkering by 2018

Singapore: MFM to cover distillate bunkering by 2018

Singapore will be using mass flowmeter (MFM) technology for the bunkering of distillate fuels, mainly marine gas oil (MGO), by 2018.

"Once we have completed MFM installation on bunker tankers that carry marine fuel oil we will then shift our focus to MGO," said Dr Parry Oei, director (port services) and chief hydrographer at the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

"We are targeting to explore the use of MFM for MGO by 2018 or earlier, and I suspect at the rate we are going it will be earlier," he said at SIBCON 2014.

According to Oei, there are currently 11 bunker tankers installed with MPA-approved MFMs.

Another seven similar vessels, now at various stages of the MFM approval process, will join the MFM-equipped bunker tanker fleet by year end.

This means there will be a total of 18 bunker tankers equipped with MPA-approved MFMs operating in Singapore by the end of 2014.

A market source told Bunkerworld there are approximately 150 vessels delivering fuel oil in the market.

MPA data indicate there are currently 219 bunker tankers registered to operate in the port of Singapore.

The use of MFM for fuel oil bunkering in Singapore will be mandatory for bunker suppliers from January 1, 2017 onwards