• Follow Us On Our Preferred Social Media Platform:

IBIA Asia: Direction to ‘stay on course’ with new Chairman

02 Aug 2018

The Singapore arm of UK-based International Bunker Industry Association, also known as IBIA Asia, will be maintaining its current direction of bringing more value to members in future operations, says its new Chairman.

“One of the good things we have at IBIA Asia is continuity,” Timothy Cosulich tells Manifold Times, while adding he is still working together with former Chairman Captain Rahul Choudhuri on tackling industry issues.

“One of the goals of IBIA Asia, specifically, is to collaborate with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on making sure the industry is well regulated and in general collaborate with institutions to ensure Singapore remains the bunker hub that it is and continues growing.

“The introduction of mass flowmeters (MFM) is great step in the right direction. The next step is to make sure the whole bunker supply chain is regulated including loadings at terminals which should also be done using MFM.”

According to Cosulich, who became Chairman of IBIA Asia earlier this year in April, bunker tanker operators suffer from measurements inaccuracies when conducting loading operations at Singapore terminals.

“This may not be intentional, but if we are unable to harmonise the bunker supply chain based on same [MFM] measuring system there will be no consistency in the way we supply bunkers to our clients,” he explains.

“There is a lot that IBIA Asia can do to support the MPA in increasing the level of transparency within the Singapore market.”

Cosulich welcomes the MPA push for innovation, such as electronic bunker delivery note (E-BDN), and the upcoming mandate to use MFM for distillate bunker deliveries at Singapore by July next year.

IBIA Asia, together with MPA, is part of the technical community responsible for the development, implementation, and regulation of bunkering standards at Singapore.

“We also have a have surveyors working group within IBIA Asia focusing on collaborating with port authorities to monitor the impact of potential off spec cargoes coming into Singapore.”

Moving forward, Cosulich notes of IBIA’s new logo representing a new chapter of the organisation in line with the new challenges IMO 2020 will bring to the shipping industry.

“The new logo marks a new start for IBIA with an increased focus on sharing knowledge and tackling the main industry issues on the global stage,” he says.

“It is a very interesting time for bunkering industry; 2020 is approaching fast and as IBIA we have invested a lot of time and effort in studying 2020 and its impact.

“We have conducted and produced a lot of research and another goal is to be able to communicate this knowledge and share it with our members.

“IBIA is a members-led organisation and there is a lot of value that can be brought by individuals who have the expertise knowledge information; hence is it very important all members contribute that value to the organisation.”

Related: MPA co-funds industry move to MFM distillate bunker delivery
Related: IBIA contributes to IMO 2020 ship implementation plan
Related: IBIA: Proposal to mandate ISO sulphur test methods to be discussed
Related: IBIA issues tank cleaning advice to upcoming IMO meeting

Published: 2 August, 2018
 

Related News

Featured News

Our Industry Partners

PR Newswire