India releases circular covering issuance of E-BDN by bunker suppliers

India’s Directorate of General Shipping (DGS), under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, on Tuesday (3 January) issued a draft circular regarding the collection of data from all Indian ships irrespective of size for the implementation of EEXI, CII, single use of plastics, and issuance of Electronic Bunker Delivery Note (E-BDN) by bunker suppliers.

The circular applies to all Indian ships and all concerned, viz., ship-owners/managers/recognised organizations (ROs)/bunker suppliers visiting Indian ports. The following are the main highlights of the circular:

• All Indian ship-owners/managers/company are required to access Swacch Sagar Portal digitally and register themselves as guided in the attached user manual and complete the data related to fuel consumption on a monthly basis of their fleet ships of 400 GT and above registered under Ms Act 1958, irrespective of whether the ship has coastal or world-wide GTL or whether certified under River Sea Vessel (Ref. DGS Order No. 18 of 2013) or Inland Coastal Vessel (Ref. D6S Order No. 1 of 2014) notification with the exception of  ship types.
• All registered and licensed bunker suppliers are required to access Swacch Sagar Portal digitally and complete the data related to bunker supply, generate an electronic Bunker Delivery Note on the online platform and issue to the bunker receiver.
• Indian register of shipping (IRS) carrying the Initial/ Annual/ Renewal verification for bunker license certification has to verify that the suppliers have issued electronic bunker delivery notes for all bunkers supplied, and any single noncompliance has to be indicated in the report before forwarding to the Directorate.

Part of the collection of data related to fuel consumption includes the Energy Efficiency of Existing Ships (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), which have been in effect from 1 January 2023.

The user manual for uploading the relevant data for fuel consumption, single-use plastics, and bunker information system is attached to the circular. 

Note: The full circular including the user manual can be found here. 

Photo credit: Naveed Ahmed on Unsplash
Published: 10 January, 2023