The Maritime and Port Authority Singapore (MPA) on Tuesday (1 August) said MPA held a firefighting programme to prepare MPA staff involved in maritime operations and decarbonisation, researchers and crew members for Singapore’s first methanol bunkering operation.

The programme was conducted by the Co-operative of SCDF Employees Ltd (COSEM).

Eng Dih Teo, Chief Executive of MPA, said maritime electrification and the introduction of new maritime fuels such as methanol for propulsion will bring about new unknowns and challenges, particularly in the beginning. 

“As part of preparing Singapore’s maritime industry, operators, crew, engineers and response teams, we can learn and adapt from past incidents, safety studies and modelling, experience in transporting traded chemicals and from firms in adjacent industries such as energy and chemical storage, and reduce identified risks to below thresholds,” he said in a social media post. 

He added methanol has a low flash point at 11°C where it gives off sufficient vapour to be ignited, with a flammability range of 6 to 36.5% by volume in air. The methanol flame is a clear one that may not be easy to spot, especially during the day.  

“Methanol, as a flammable solvent, is a Class B fire when ignited and is put out by dry powder or foam. While water can put out fires from normal combustibles (Class A) such as paper, methanol still burns with up to four parts water and one part methanol,” he said. 

“Therefore, operators and crew are well-trained to don their suits and not use water.” 

Eng shared a video summarising segments of the firefighting course customised to help the crew to detect via handheld thermal sensors, portable gas detectors or the novel use of drones with thermal cameras and put out such fires more effectively, and be confident to address various scenarios.

“Advance warnings from the Meteorological Services or lightning detectors on ships can also help the crew reaction time to adjust and cease operations,” Eng said. 

“Our methanol bunkering preparations are an opportunity for our maritime ecosystem to raise competencies and the more prepared we are collectively, the higher our readiness to enable and support the global shipping community.”

He concluded that MPA will refine the course curriculum with its partners to ensure personnels will be prepared for more safe operations ahead. 

Manifold Times previously reported Maersk and Hong Lam Marine Pte Ltd successfully conducted the world’s first ship-to-containership methanol bunkering operation of a Maersk’s container vessel on 27 July 2023 at the Raffles Reserved Anchorage in Singapore. 

This was also Singapore’s first methanol bunkering operation.

Later, Manifold Times also reported The Methanol Institute (MI) stating the successful completion of Singapore’s first methanol bunkering pilot has given the republic a lead in adopting methanol as a marine fuel. 

MI added the milestone operation between a Maersk containership and Hong Lam Marine tanker MT Agility was the first in Asia to feature a methanol-fuelled containership, and not a commercial product carrier transporting methanol.

Marine fuels testing company VPS was also the first company to complete a methanol bunker quantity survey (BQS) operation during Singapore’s first methanol bunkering operation. 

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Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority Singapore
Published: 1 August, 2023