Alternative Fuels

SIBCON 2022: Stakeholders discuss the future of Singapore’s bunkering landscape at session finale

MPA, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services, and BP share their thoughts with Singapore Shipping Association in the final session of SIBCON 2022.

Published

2 years ago

October 14, 2022

Admin

Several stakeholders in Singapore’s bunkering industry provided insights on Singapore’s marine fuels landscape in the near future during a deep dive finale session at the 22nd edition of Singapore International Bunkering Conference, also known as SIBCON 2022, on Thursday (6 October).

Caroline Yang, Chief Executive of Hong Lam Marine and President of Singapore Shipping Association, who was moderating the session What’s Next in Singapore’s Marine Fuels Landscape, asked panellists their prediction on the main fuel types that will fuel ships and the types of carbon abatement measures they will see in 2030.

She also asked the panel about their thoughts if Singapore will remain the top bunkering port in a multi-fuel environment, what they foresee would be the expected fuel mix of 2030, expected investments that Singapore needs to have to maintain its top position, uptake rate of biofuel at the republic, and more.

Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation

Dr. Sanjay Kuttan, Chief Technology Officer, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, who was one of the panellists, said there would be no major shifts in the fuel mix in 2030 if Singapore continues to remain as one of the largest transhipment ports in the world and the current rate of alternative fuels production remains unchanged.

“What you will begin to see is the emergence of LNG as a maritime fuel because there are 700 new LNG ships on order today. But that's still a drop in the ocean of the 80,000 vessels that are on water,” he said.

“We will also the increased use of drop-in biofuels, specifically Gen 2 and possibly even Gen 3 biofuels will emerge by 2030. Even though you will see more biofuels entering the market, VLSFO still will be the dominant base fuel in 2030.”

He shared with the audience the Neste refinery in Singapore produces a significant amount of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), a good biofuel that can be mixed with marine gas oil (MGO), which presents an unique opportunity for Singapore to supply a 2nd generation biofuel at scale.

“Singapore could establish vertical algae farms for the production of 3rd Generation biofuels. So, I think if we push our imagination harder and if we want to become a biofuel hub for the shipping industry, we have the elements to actually realise that but only if it becomes a part of our national strategy.”

Dr Kuttan also pointed out that carbon abatement measures like ship board carbon capture systems can be powerful tools – but only if the industry is able to introduce a responsible solution to dispose the captured CO2 effectively.

“Ultimately, no matter how much CO2 you capture, you need to fix it and not release it into the air, so there's still a few more building blocks to be established,” he notes.

“But I think we need to recognise that we need to use every solution in our “bag-of-tricks” to try and “bend-the-curve” as soon as possible because the technology is available, however, we must ensure that the overall lifecycle analysis of any solution needs to have a positive impact on Mother Nature.”

Anthony Tolani, General Manager - Australia and New Zealand, Trading and Shipping - bp Marine, agreed with Dr Kuttan's sentiments on biofuels and added stakeholders are enthusiastic in joining in decarbonisation efforts – though not necessarily led by regulations at this point of time.

“What we've seen is a voluntary adoption of biofuel, particularly where there are no incentives available and I think that will continue to build,” he said.

He added regulators can also play a role as there are still some restrictions at the moment constraining the “free adoption of biofuels”.

“So what we're seeing is an industry pushing for regulations to keep pace. Starting January 2030, we may see the emergence of methanol; however, predominantly it will be a larger uptake of biofuels, and LNG as well as VLSFO,” he said.

He also said it would be possible for biofuel bunker sales in Singapore to reach five million tonnes before 2030.

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore

Capt. Daknash Ganasen, Senior Director of Operations & Marine Services, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, echoed other panellists of SIBCON 2022 in suggesting there will be no clear winner at the moment in the anticipated fuel mix in the near term, but there are opportunities for every type of alternative bunker fuel.Capt Daknash said that shipping companies could also be looking into new renewable technology on board ships such as wind energy and solar energy to supplement or complement emission reduction in tandem.

He also gave his take if Singapore will remain the top bunkering port in a multi-fuel environment when it comes to marine fuel volume.

“We do, of course, definitely aspire to be the top bunkering port in the world as we move into a transition from fossil fuel to the next alternative fuel and renewable energy,” he said.

He noted MPA has partnered with various initiatives including being a member of the Castor Initiative and SABRE consortium, in itself is a testament that we aspire to be amongst the top bunkering ports in the world moving ahead as well,” he said

Capt Daknash also shared other initiative such as co-founding the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation to look into the various aspects of the challenges that the industry face moving towards 2030 and 2050, and initiatives with like-minded ports under the Future Fuel Port Network, which was formed with the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan where parties collaborate, share information, and work on best practices together.

Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services

Choong Sheen Mao, Director, Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services (Equatorial), said there needs to be more strategic collaboration, not just within Singapore but also internationally.

“Equatorial sees Singapore as still being the leading bunkering hub in the world, especially with the focus on a multi-fuel future. Furthermore, the republic is not just a hub for bunkering, but a hub for many other aspects, such as financing, trading and digitalisation,” stated Mr Choong.

“The future is going to be much more complicated, requiring the Port to tackle difficult issues such as operational safety during ammonia bunkering.

“Nonetheless, good foundations have already been built over the years; for example the mandatory use of mass flow metering system paves the way to accurately measure the quantity of bunkers delivered, which may allow other things, such as accurate tracking of potential carbon emissions from the delivered products.

“Singapore has a strong and diverse ecosystem for us to adapt, collaborate and deal with future challenges. There has never been a more exciting time for the bunkering industry.”

He emphasised the company’s commitment to biofuels, adding: “Equatorial has already obtained our ISCC certification. There will be a gradual scaling up process in the adoption of alternate fuels, especially due to high prices.”

“Biofuel, because it is a drop-in fuel, it will be much more straightforward. Regulations will nonetheless have to kick in to incentivise shipowners to use such fuels. Short to medium term subsidies will help with the uptake of biofuel but, at the end of the day, the economics of consuming biofuel have to be sustainable in the long run.”

Mr Choong, meanwhile, noted decarbonisation developments within the shipping industry taking a rapid pace.

“Even within the past 18 months, the vocabulary of discussing about decarbonisation has matured rapidly. It is now quite established that the world will adopt the well-to-wake method in assessing carbon emissions. The industry has become much more refined and accurate in our references,” he explained.

“Before we discussed about the potential of ammonia [as an alternate marine fuel]. Now we speak about consuming green or blue ammonia. The transition to alternate fuels will be very interesting.

“How do we ensure that the price of transitional fuel or green fuel is competitive with conventional fuel? Could one solution be carbon taxes with a floating price mechanism against conventional fuels, with the involvement of price publishing agencies? This may assist us in the transition.

“Nevertheless, going green is going to be a very expensive exercise. Therefore, we need to be very selective in making sure we take the right steps. We cannot afford to take too many wrong steps. It will be too costly, especially to a single organisation.”

Manifold Times is an official media partner of SIBCON 2022; a series of articles related to the event written by the Singapore bunkering publication are as follows:

Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 14 October, 2022

Bunker Fuel

SIBCON 2024: EnterpriseSG to launch new Singapore standard for e-BDN

EnterpriseSG, through the Singapore Standards Council, will launch a new Singapore Standard 709 Specification for Digital Bunkering Supply Chain Documentation.

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Admin

SIBCON 2024: New Singapore standard on digital bunkering to be launched

Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), through the Singapore Standards Council (SSC), will launch a new Singapore Standard (SS) 709 Specification for Digital Bunkering Supply Chain Documentation, according to Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on Wednesday (9 October).

MPA said the new standard will ensure data consistency and interoperability between digital systems and facilitate smoother transactions through trusted and verifiable digital bunkering documents.

This comes following Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and the Ministry of Transport, announcing that from 1 April 2025, all bunker suppliers will be required to provide digital bunkering services and issue electronic bunker delivery notes (e-BDNs) as a default.

The move was decided following successful pilots conducted since 1 November 2023 with bunker suppliers, including the top 10 bunker players, in Singapore.

To further enhance transparency and transaction integrity in bunkering operations, MPA will also introduce a centralised e-BDN record verification facility. This enables key stakeholders to verify the e-BDN received against the information transmitted to MPA.

EnterpriseSG has also launched the revised Singapore Standard (SS) 648 Code of Practice for Bunker Mass Flow Metering to include data integrity and transmission requirements in line with this new digital standard.

In the first eight months of 2024, MPA said Singapore saw strong growth of approximately 7% in total bunker sales over the same period last year, reaching over 36 million tonnes. Biofuels and liquefied natural gas bunker sales surpassed 700,00 metric tonnes.

To support the operationalisation of a higher mix of low-carbon alternative fuels, both EnterpriseSG and MPA are developing the Singapore standards for methanol bunkering and ammonia bunkering by 2024 and 2025 respectively.

The standards will cover custody transfer requirements, safety procedures and crew competencies, to ensure safe bunkering operations and handling of these fuels.

MPA also announced that three major shipping lines — Hafnia, K-Line, and MOL — are in early discussions to join the Singapore - Port of Los Angeles (LA)- Port of Long Beach (LB) Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC) initiative.

Each partner would be expected to spearhead a project to advance the corridor’s decarbonisation and digitalisation goals, such as the adoption of net-zero fuels, Just-in-Time route optimisation, and energy efficiency technologies such as wind-assisted ship propulsion.

The addition of the new partners will significantly strengthen the GDSC’s capacity to drive innovation in sustainable shipping practices and accelerate the adoption of zero/near-zero emission fuels and green technologies along the corridor.

Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 10 October, 2024

Alternative Fuels

SIBCON 2024: SGMF releases methanol and ammonia bunkering guidelines

SFMF published Bunkering Guidelines for Ammonia and Bunkering Guidelines for Methanol, as well as Emergency Response Guide for Ammonia; also revealed new brand to reflect four key future marine fuels.

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Admin

SIBCON 2024: SGMF releases methanol and ammonia bunkering guidelines

SGMF on Wednesday (9 October) announced the release of the Bunkering Guidelines for Ammonia and Bunkering Guidelines for Methanol, as well as the Emergency Response Guide for Ammonia.

During the 23rd Singapore International Bunkering Conference (SIBCON), SGMF also revealed its new brand reflecting the organisation’s current activities in the four key marine fuels for the future: LNG, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen.

SGMF is a membership-based organisation leading safe maritime decarbonisation with members across the full value chain of marine fuels, including suppliers, operators, owners, equipment manufacturers, class societies, port authorities, individuals and training organisations.

While the search for the perfect alternative fuel continues, SGMF said methanol and ammonia are two of the fuels that the global merchant fleet has identified and is looking to implement, emphasising the importance of these guidelines.

Methanol – With the first vessels already running on methanol, and many more on order, methanol is ahead of the curve in terms of adoption. It has also overtaken regulation, meaning that these early adopters are having to put forward safety solutions that have not yet been documented, and bunker suppliers using existing chemical carriers are trying to second guess what conversion and equipment may be needed to make their vessels physically compatible with the ships being produced. These methanol bunkering guidelines have been published as a first draft to highlight the key safety factors that need to be considered when designing and bunkering a vessel of any type with methanol.

Ammonia – Despite ammonia (NH3) not yet being commercially available as a marine fuel, this bunkering document provides guidance to all the stakeholders currently investigating and developing the bunkering of ships with fully refrigerated (-33°C) ammonia.

A range of potential hazards are expected with bunkering ammonia and to date there is very limited experience, with only one series of bunkering trials conducted as at March 2024.

As a result, Bunkering Guidelines for Ammonia draws primarily on the current experience of LNG bunkering, the wider ammonia marine transport industry and the shoreside ammonia production and transport industry experience.

“The overall aim of these guidelines is therefore to ensure that ammonia-fuelled ships are bunkered safely, reliably, efficiently and in an environmentally responsible way, targeting the avoidance of operational or fugitive emissions of ammonia,” SGMF added.

These publications have been compiled with extensive input from the SGMF membership, as well as with collaborative support from the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS).

Note: The bunkering guidelines are available in the shop on SGMF portal and the Emergency Response Guide for Ammonia can be downloaded through its free resources section.

Photo credit: SGMF
Published: 10 October, 2024

LNG Bunkering

Bunker One to launch physical LNG bunker fuel supply in January 2025

Firm has established Bunker One LNG BV, which will manage the physical LNG fuel portfolio, including last-mile delivery, and will be headed by Managing Director, Michael Behmerburg.

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2024

Admin

Bunker One to launch physical LNG bunker fuel supply in January 2025

Bunker Holding’s physical supply division, Bunker One, on Wednesday (9 October) said it is set to launch LNG bunker supply in northwestern Europe as of January 2025.

Building on its existing successful activities supplying alternative fuels, Bunker One is expanding its current fuels portfolio by adding physical LNG and mass balanced LBM (Liquefied Biomethane). Bunker One expects to be ready to commence first physical LNG deliveries in January 2025.

Bunker One has established a new entity, Bunker One LNG BV, which will manage the physical LNG fuel portfolio including last-mile delivery and will be headed by Managing Director, Michael Behmerburg.

Peter Zachariassen, CEO of Bunker One, said: “We are extremely pleased to be welcoming Michael Behmerburg to steer our Bunker One LNG entity. Michael brings a wealth of experience that is important for us to navigate properly in the upcoming transition.”

Bunker One LNG BV has chartered the 10,000 cbm LNG Bunker Vessel, Coral Fraseri.

Michael Behmerburg, said: “We are working hand in hand with the vessel’s owner Anthony Veder to bring the vessel into operation. The vessel will undergo a regular class renewal at the end of 2024, during which several modifications will be carried out to enhance her capabilities as an LNG bunker vessel.”

The purpose of the modifications is to prepare the vessel for best-in-class service to the majority of seagoing vessels, including tankers, container ships, and car carriers. Bunker One LNG BV is currently in the process of securing bunker permits which will cover key ports in Northwest Europe.

Valerie Ahrens, Senior Director of New Fuels and Carbon Markets at Bunker Holding, said: “We are very excited about this move to include physical supply of LNG and LBM as part of Bunker Holding’s fuel offering, which builds on our successful activities supplying LNG through third parties.”

“Fossil LNG can offer up to 23% in greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions compared to conventional fuels and accompanies shipping’s transition to a multi-fuel future. Hence, we regard LNG as a stepping stone to bio-LNG and e-LNG, which will help the industry achieve the mid-century decarbonisation targets set by the IMO.”

Photo credit: Bunker Holding
Published: 10 October, 2024