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