Singapore developing standards for biofuel bunkering

Speaking at the opening of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (Sibcon) on Wednesday, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Chee Hong Tat said: “Singapore is preparing ourselves to bunker biofuels for oceangoing ships. Approximately 70,000 tonnes of biofuels have been supplied in Singapore across 40 biofuel bunkering operations using existing bunker tankers.”

At present there is not international standard for the quality of biofuel bunkers and Singapore has developed a provisional national quality standard for marine biofuel to support the development of biofuel bunkering. The Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) also developed a framework setting out conditions under which licensed bunker suppliers may supply biofuel within the Port of Singapore to support trials conducted by vessels.

In the area of quantity assurance Singapore has been a pioneer in mandating the use of Mass Flow Meters (MFM) for standard bunkering operations and is now looking to extend this to refuelling that also involves biofuels.

“We’ve observed that Mass Flow Meters are able to accurately handle biofuels,” Minister Chee said. “The technical committee for bunkering will continue to study the impact of biofuel on the metrological accuracy of the installed MFMs and work towards the inclusion of biofuels within Code of Practice for Bunker Mass Flow Metering or SS 648: 2019.”

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