OW Bunker has distributed bunker fuel with a mass flow meter, approved by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), installed onboard its bunker tanker Marine Noel, and reduced the bunkering time of each average delivery by up to four hours.
The time to supply a typical 1,000 metric tonnes of bunkers, which normally takes between seven and eight hours, has been reduced by 50% by using the Coriolis Flow Meter, providing customers with significant time, and therefore, cost savings, according to OW Bunker.
A mass flow meter, or Coriolis Flow Meter, is able to accurately measure the bunker quantity based on mass rather than volume, bringing about greater transparency, reliability and efficiency during bunkering operations.
Singapore’s bunker tanker owner Sinanju Tankers installed the MPA-approved mass flow meter on the 4,700-dwt Marine Noel in June 2014.
In the two months since distribution started with Marine Noel, OW Bunker saw efficiency benefits that included removing potentially problematic manual processes and human error, ensuring any inefficient levels of air entrapment can immediately be detected and dealt with, and delivering transparency and accuracy, all of which help to eliminate time-consuming disputes and claims.
Christian Meyer, vice president – physical distribution at OW Bunker, said: “For example, a one year time charter for a VLCC, which has an average day rate of about $24,000 will save up to $4,000 in terms of time when bunkering with a Coriolis Flow Meter. That’s a significant amount in any market, and highlights the positive impact that marine fuel distributors can have on driving efficiencies into our customers’ operations.”
The MPA will mandate the use of mass flow meters in Singapore from 1 January 2017, making it the first port in the world to enforce the use of the technology.
Singapore is the world’s largest bunkering port with bunker sales volume of 42.7m metric tonnes in 2013.
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