Singapore bunker market players establish new association

The new group said its core aims are to focus on working with small and medium-sized bunker firms so as to improve their business services, as well as working with national bodies to raise industry standards, and develop and deliver training programs for its members.

Kwok Fook Sing, honorary secretary of ABIS, said the new bunker association comprises of all bunker-related stakeholders, ranging from suppliers, shipowners, bunker buyers, traders, surveyors, fuel testers, legal counsels and mass flow meter (MFM) vendors.

Training courses for MFM bunkering, for instance, will be among the new association’s priorities. Singapore will make MFM bunkering mandatory from 1 January 2017.

ABIS has formed a focus group to review members’ existing bunker surveying processes to ensure they align with Singapore’s new MFM bunkering technical guidelines, the TR48:2015.

To-date, ABIS has 29 members from 24 companies within the bunker industry.

Singapore is the world’s largest bunkering port by volume, posting 45.16m metric tonnes of sales in 2015.