China: Zhejiang FTZ sets new record of largest single bunkering volume of bonded fuel oil

China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Zhejiang FTZ) recently set a record for the largest single bunkering volume since its establishment in 2017, according to Zhoushan Customs.

The development was made possible through communication across multiple customs districts, namely Zhoushan Customs, Hangzhou Customs and Shanghai Customs.

On 6 March, Sinopec Zhejiang Zhoushan Petroleum applied to Zhoushan Customs under Hangzhou Customs for the release of 8,600 metric tonnes (mt) of bonded fuel oil.

The bunker stem was released from Zhoushan Customs and delivered to the floating, production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Agogo FPSO in a marine refuelling operation under the purview of Shanghai Customs.

The activity to transfer bonded fuel oil from Zhoushan Customs to Shanghai Customs is locally known as “bonded fuel oil cross-customs direct supply” operation.

“The large amount of bonded oil bunkering this time has further enhanced our customers’ trust and recognition of us,” said Zhang Yue, Business Manager of Sinopec Zhejiang Zhoushan Petroleum.

“The direct supply across the customs area has given us confidence in expanding and strengthening the ‘mobile offshore bunker station’ in the Yangtze River Delta.” 

In January and February this year, the cross-customs direct supply of bonded oil from the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone to the Yangtze River Delta region exceeded 500,000 mt, reaching 502,000 mt.

Hangzhou Customs first proposed the “bonded fuel oil cross-customs direct supply” facilitation measures at the beginning of the establishment of the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone to enhance the competitiveness of bonded fuel oil supply in the Yangtze River Delta region.

“After an enterprise submits the cross-customs supply application to Zhoushan Customs, it can directly transport the bonded fuel oil to the ports in the Yangtze River Delta for refuelling of international ships, reducing the declaration and transfers in and out warehouses, making the best use of Zhoushan’s bonded fuel oil inventory, and promoting the interconnection of oil supply in the Yangtze River Delta and ports along the Yangtze River,” said Xu Degang, Chief of Bonded Supervision Section, Zhoushan Customs.

Under the “bonded fuel oil cross-customs direct supply” model, enterprises can also use bunkering for “multiple vessels with one tanker” and “supply first, declare later” and other facilitation measures to carry out bonded fuel supply business more efficiently and conveniently. 

Among them, “bunkering for multiple vessels with one tanker” can effectively integrate the bonded fuel oil resources in the Yangtze River Delta region, reduce the number of round trips of fuel supply ships, and greatly improve fuel supply efficiency.

The “supply first, declare later” policy allows enterprises to declare customs with actual fuel supply volume, improve the accuracy of enterprise declaration data, integrate and reduce the number of documents significantly, and reduce enterprise operating costs.

Driven by a series of innovative measures, the inter-customs supply of bonded fuel oil in the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone has grown rapidly, from 761,000 mt in 2017 when it was first established to 3.465 million mt in 2024.

Photo credit: Zhoushan Customs
Published: 13 March, 2025