Bunkering Hub

Bunkering hub

Bunkering is one process on ship which has been the reason for several accidents in the past. Bunkering on ship can be of fuel oil, sludge, diesel oil, cargo etc. Bunkering of fuel or diesel oil requires utmost care and alertness to prevent any kind of fire accident or oil spill.

Bunkering is the supply of fuel for use by ships in a seaport. The term stemmed from the times of steamships, when the fuel, coal, was stored in bunkers. Nowadays the term bunker is generally connected to the storage of petroleum products in tanks, and the practice and business of refueling ships. Bunkering operations are situated at seaports, and they incorporate the storage of “bunker” (ship) fuels and the provision of the fuel to vessels. Bunkering incorporates the shipboard logistics of loading fuel and distributing it among available “bunkers” (on-board fuel tanks.)

Bunkering is one process on ship which has been the reason behind several accidents in the past. Bunkering on ship can be of fuel oil, sludge, diesel oil, cargo and so on. Bunkering of fuel or diesel oil requires extreme care and alertness to prevent any sort of fire mishap or oil spill.

More about the procedure before Bunkering:

1. The chief engineer calculates and checks which bunker/fuel oil tanks are to be filled after he gets affirmation from the shore office about the amount of fuel to be received.

2. It may be required to empty a few tanks and transfer the oil from one tank to other. This is required in order to avert mixing of two oils and avoid incompatibility between the previous oil and the new oil.

3. A meeting should to be held between the individuals that will partake in the bunkering procedure and they ought to be clarified about the following:

Which tanks are to be filled?
Sequence order of tanks to be filled.
How much bunker is to be taken.
Emergency procedure in the event that oil spill occurs.
Duties of each officer are clarified.
Sounding is taken before bunkering and record is made.
A checklist is to be filled with the goal that nothing is missed on.
All deck scuppers and spare all plate are stopped.
Overflow tank is checked to be empty.
Sufficient lighting at bunker and sounding position is to be provided.
‘No smoking’ notification ought to be positioned.
On board correspondence between the people involved in bunkering is made.
Warning Flag/light is presented on masthead.
Opposite side bunker manifold valves are shut and blanked appropriately.
Vessel draft and trim is recorded before bunkering.
All types of gear in SOPEP (shipboard oil pollution emergency plan) locker are checked to be set up.
At the point when barge is secured to the ship side, the people involved on the barge are also clarified about the bunker plan.
Barge paperwork is checked for the oil’s grade and the density in the event that they are according to the specification.
The pumping rate of bunker is agreed with the barge.
The hose is then connected to the manifold.
All the valves required are open and checked.
Proper communication between the barge and the ship is to be established.
Sign and signals are to be followed as discussed in case of communication during crisis.
After this, the manifold valve is open for bunkering.

Singapore has once again set a new annual record for bunker sales, while Gibraltar has reported that bunker calls and supply volumes grew for the second year running in 2016. Besides achieving growth in bunker sales during a year of significant global headwinds, these ports have something else in common; an emphasis on improving bunkering standards through codes of good practice and regulations of their respective bunker sectors.

The attention given to the bunker industry in these two ports is perhaps not surprising given how important it is to their respective economies. As such, their respective port authorities seek to support and enhance the sector. Perhaps the growth in bunker sales means these bunkering hubs are reaping rewards for their focus on offering quality of service?

Bunker sales volumes in both ports were helped by a growth in the number of ships calling overall, and by promoting their status as maritime centres offering a full range of services to ships.

Marine fuel sales in the Port of Singapore grew 7.7% to 48.6 million tonnes in 2016, surpassing the 2015 record of 45.2 million tonnes, according data released earlier this month by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). MPA also reported a 6.3% increase in vessel arrival tonnage increased compared to 2015, reaching 2.66 billion gross tonnes (GT) while total cargo tonnage handled in 2016 increased by 3.0% to reach 593.3 million tonnes. 

Gibraltar no longer publishes its bunker sales figures, but the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) said 2016 was ”another year of growth across most areas of activity” against the backdrop of a slowdown in global economic activity, overcapacity in shipping across the world, and stiff regional competition.

Observers will keep a keen eye on Singapore in 2017 to see if the port’s introduction of mandatory use of mass flow metering (MFM) systems for deliveries of marine fuel oil will have an impact on bunker sales volumes. Using the MFM technology rather than manual methods for measuring delivered quantity is expected to enhance efficiency by saving time during bunkering operations, and reduce scope for quantity disputes.

If, as some predict, global bunker sales will be largely stagnant in 2017, any increase in key bunkering hubs like Singapore will come at the expense of sales volumes in other ports.

If Singapore is seen to attract even more business in 2017, the take-up of MFMs in other ports may accelerate.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a global cap of 0.5% sulphur in all bunker fuels starting January 2020. While this poses challenges to Singapore's current status as the world's largest bunkering hub we believe Singapore will overcome these challenges with minimum impact. However the ride may not be as smooth as in the past. Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering port and the bunkering hub, plans to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to fuel ships by 2020, a government official said on 15th October, as part of a global trend to move away from oil to gas to reduce emissions. The city state planned to start a pilot programme by early 2017 to fund up to $2 million per vessel for up to six LNG-fueled vessels for the testing of safety procedures and standards. 

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has released a feasibility study on the potential for turning the Port of Yokohama into an LNG bunkering hub.

The move is seen as advancing the competitiveness of Japan’s ports as a result of IMO’s regulations on ship emissions that will be strengthened in 2020. 

Japan anticipates that the number of LNG fuelled ships will rise as a result of air emission regulations. 

Yokohama is located on the Pacific side of the country and could serve as the first or last bunkering base in the Asian side of the Trance Pacific route. 

The launch of an LNG-fuelled tugboat Sakigake in August 2015 has provided the local industry with LNG bunkering experience. The Port of Yokohama has two LNG terminals, Negishi and Ogijima, and in the Tokyo Bay area, there are another five.

The study outlines a road map for the development of LNG bunkering at Yokohama, which includes three phases:

Optimization of existing truck to ship LNG bunkering which became operational in November 2016
The introduction of ship to ship LNG bunkering using Sodegaura LNG terminal in Tokyo Bay to supply bunkering ships
The introduction of a new LNG supply system and second bunkering ship at Yokohama.

The study was completed through a steering committee which included government agencies, NYK Line, Tokyo Gas and others.

Japan is the world's leading importer of LNG and has existing infrastructure including the world's largest LNG carrier fleet and a large number of LNG terminals close to ports.

Fujairah, which hosts the Middle East’s largest commercial storage capacity for refined oil products, will start publishing weekly inventory data as part of a transparency initiative to help establish the emirate as a global energy trading hub with the region’s first oil products  benchmark in due course.  
 
In recent years, the Gulf has seen the growth of an array of key features that support the need for the establishment of a world-class oil trading hub. The region has become a major logistics hub, with pipelines, vast storage and several deep-water ports. It is supported by growing financial centres and now the majority of banks, oil companies, multinationals, national oil companies and commodity trading houses. The region is also in the midst of a refining construction boom, with more than a million barrels a day of capacity added in recent years.

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