The following article published by Manifold Times on 18 January was sourced from China’s domestic market through a local correspondent. An online translation service was used in the production of the current editorial piece:

Qinzhou Port Area (QPA) intends to improve operations of a planned bonded fuel supply base that is currently under construction at the Beibu Gulf, according to a Qinzhou Port Area, Pilot Free Trade Zone, statement issued during late December.

The organisation has held several meetings between regional leaders and the construction office to clarify the development goals and division of tasks for the construction of the Beibu Gulf bonded fuel base, states QPA.

The meetings have allowed Nanning Customs, Qinzhou Municipal People’s Government, Qinzhou Bonded Port Area Management Committee and other units to coordinate and ensure the orderly progress of all work.

Further, the organisation plans to set up a special committee catering to bonded bunker fuel projects; the unit will work with oil enterprises to find and troubleshoot potential issues with bonded bunkering operations.

Policies under the “Preferential Policies for Supporting Bonded Fuel Business Development in Qinzhou Port Area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Trial)” will also be formulated to promote enterprise trade, rental of office space and fuel storage warehouses, adoption of information systems, while introducing tax benefits for senior executive personal in order to attract businesses to the bonded fuel base.

Overall, QPA plans to implement a “two-in-one” regulatory reform, “one ship, more supply” model, and paperless “single window” system, amongst other policies, to support bonded bunkering operators at the planned bonded bunker fuel supply base.

“Two-in-one” supervision oil warehouses

For starters, functions of the fuel oil bonded warehouse and the export supervision warehouse will be combined.

Through the “oil depot integration” plan, designated warehouses will be able to perform both bonded warehouse and export supervision warehouse functions, and there will be no need to carry additional transfers of fuel oil through a separate warehouse.

The improvement means export supervision warehouses will have the option of being able to store two oil products, such as bonded fuel oil, together at the same time.

It allows oil enterprises to save on operating costs such as the renting of oil storage tanks, while working around the problem of tank capacity shortage and wastage of tank storage resources, and reduce the cost of oil allocation between export supervision warehouses and bonded warehouses.

“One ship, more supply” model for bunker tankers

A “one ship, more supply” model which allows a bunker tanker to carry out multiple bonded bunkering operations with a single cargo of fuel oil will be implemented to reduce the total loading operation time of tankers at oil terminals.

Other policies affecting bunker tankers include the possibility of allowing modern bunker tankers to conduct bonded bunkering operations at the anchorage to reduce non-productive delays for ships in ports.

An information supervision platform that allows the adoption of a “supply first, report later” policy, where oil enterprises will be allowed to carry out operations first and directly declare customs with the actual oil supply at a later stage, will be introduced.

The policy will effectively solve the issue of parties needing to return to the place of issuance to change orders due to errors between the declared quantity and the actual quantity, and is expected to reduce customs clearance time by more than 60%.

A “cross-customs direct supply” system allowing bunkering vessels to carry out the bonded supply of fuel oil for ships under the jurisdiction of Nanning Customs, including Fangcheng Port, Beihai and other places is also under consideration.

Paperless “single window” system

Finally, QPA intends to introduce a “single window” bonded fuel supply paperless system to support local oil enterprises engaging with international trade.

The online system mainly includes modules to enhance coordination between entities, such as enterprise filing, ship filing, oil supply planning, oil supply operation, oil supply write-off disposal, etc.

It aims to allow a one-time processing of bonded fuel approval, oil supply, customs declaration, cancellation while assisting in other marine refuelling activities in the Beibu Gulf to promote the regional bonded bunkering business.

Photo credit: Qinzhou Port Area, Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone
Published: 18 January, 2022