Business

IBIA: It’s business, just not as usual

‘Shipping is the engine of global trade and the bunker industry fuels that engine. We must keep the engine running,’ reminds IBIA Director.

Published

6 years ago

April 1, 2020

Admin

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) on Tuesday (31 March) published a message to the bunkering industry on adaptations to maintain operations despite the COVID-19 pandemic:

How quickly the world has changed. No sooner had we navigated relatively successfully into the new 2020 global low-sulphur era, when an unexpected and unprecedented challenge came our way. The coronavirus, or COVID-19, has caused a rapidly developing global emergency with impacts that we will not fully understand for some time yet. The uncertainty is palpable. In the middle of all this, we must remember: shipping is the engine of global trade and the bunker industry fuels that engine. We must keep the engine running.

Efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 have caused many countries to impose strict measures, in particular limitations on the movement of people. But shipping needs to continue to keep the world’s population supplied with food, energy and other vital goods, and for raw materials and manufactured goods to flow in order to keep the economy going. Around 80% of global trade is transported by commercial shipping, according to UNCTAD statistics. IBIA therefore wholeheartedly supports calls from the IMO and various maritime organisations to ensure that disruptions to shipping services are kept to a minimum.

We are all becoming increasingly well informed about how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Most of us are now familiar with the concepts of social distancing to avoid airborne transmission of the virus, to wash or sanitise our hands after handling potentially contaminated surfaces and/or being in proximity to people who might have the virus.

Thankfully, as more and more countries impose lockdowns preventing many of us from going to our offices, modern technology facilitates working remotely, and we’re quickly adapting to it. It’s business, just not quite as usual.

It is different for those involved in physical operations. IBIA issued practical advice on precautionary measures for bunkering operations on 16 March. Since then, some countries now avoid all physical interaction between crew on receiving ships and service providers such as bunker suppliers. To keep shipping moving, industry participants are adapting procedures for managing various aspects remotely.

IBIA’s staff in Singapore, South Africa and the UK are operating in line with national guidelines on current COVID-19 safety measures. We have full digital connectivity meaning we are available for our members as usual. We are also working on more ways to connect and interact digitally, both via our website and online platforms to provide alternatives to training and events until it is deemed safe to host these physically.

We hope that you, your family and colleagues stay healthy and that your business has the resilience to get through this difficult period. We are all in the same boat and we all share the same aim: to keep the boat afloat.

Unni Einemo, Director, International Bunker Industry Association

[email protected]

Photo credit and source: IBIA
Published: 1 April, 2020

Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on 17 July.

Published

17 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, has had the remaining 127 charges against him withdrawn, according to The Straits Times on Monday (20 July).

OK Lim was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges, including those for cheating, on 17 July. The discharge means Lim cannot be prosecuted again for the same offences.

Lim, 84, is currently serving a 13½-year prison sentence after the High Court reduced his original 17½-year jail term in March 2026. He was convicted in 2024 on two cheating charges and one count of abetting forgery in a case prosecutors described as one of Singapore’s most serious trade finance frauds.

Lim was convicted in May 2024 of two charges of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery that proceeded to trial out of a total of 130 criminal charges.

He was first charged in court on 14 August 2020, and was subsequently handed further charges in court on 25 September 2020, 30 April 2021 and 24 June 2021 for his role in perpetuating fraud on various financial institutions.

A total of 130 charges were eventually brought against him for cheating and forgery-related offences.

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki
Published: 21 July, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

Coastal Logistics was reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Published

17 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Several resolutions for Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd were made during an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 July, according to a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday (4 July).

The following resolutions were duly passed during the meeting:

As Special Resolution

That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business and accordingly the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018);

As Ordinary Resolutions

that Mr. Wong Pheng Cheong Martin and Ms. Koay May Yee, both care of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte Ltd, One Raffles Quay, #27-10 South Tower, Singapore 048583 be appointed as the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up; and
that the Liquidators be at liberty to open, maintain and operate any bank account(s) or account(s) for monies received by them as Liquidators with such bank(s) as they deem fit; and
that a Committee of Inspection will not be formed.

Manifold Times previously reported Nicholas James Gronow, director of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping and Coastal Logistics, filed statutory declarations for both companies stating the firms cannot continue their businesses due to liabilities.

Both companies were reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

In 2019, several vessels owned by both firms entered the sale & purchase (S&P) market in Singapore.

Photo credit: Drew Beamer
Published: 21 July, 2026

LNG Bunkering

PIL’s LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on LNG and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Published

17 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

PIL's LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

Singapore-based Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd on Monday (20 July) said its first 13,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel, Kota Elok, recently made her maiden call to Singapore on 15 July.

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The vessel also incorporated energy-saving features and digital technologies to reduce fuel consumption and enhance operational performance, as well as a bow windshield to improve aerodynamics, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions over the course of long-haul voyages.

“Following Singapore, Kota Elok will continue her voyage on our East Coast Service 1 (ES1) route to South America, calling at ports in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina before returning to Asia,” the company said in a social media post.

Kota Elok also became PIL’s first vessel to receive Lloyd’s Register certification for compliance with the IACS UR E26 and UR E27 cyber security requirements.

Developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), UR E26 and UR E27 are mandatory cyber resilience requirements for newbuild vessels contracted from 1 July 2024.

Photo credit: Pacific International Lines
Published: 21 July, 2026