Singapore: Golden Island switching to 100% e-BDN operations from 1 December
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by Admin
Singapore bunker supplier Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading Pte Ltd (Golden Island) will be fully adopting the electronic Bunker Delivery Note (e-BDN) for commercial bunkering operations from 1 December 2023 onwards, learned Manifold Times.
“We are planning to stop issuing physical BDNs from 1st December as part of our company digitalisation initiative,” said Tomohiro Yamano, General Manager, Marine Fuel Department at Golden Island.
“We believe Golden Island is amongst the first, or even the first, in the Singapore bunkering sector to fully switch to e-EDN for supporting marine fuel delivery operations.”
According to Bunker Programmer Sam Kang, Golden Island started its first internal e-BDN trial using the solution from BTS Pte Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZeroNorth) on 2 November 2022.
“BTS has a deep understanding of the bunker industry and our specific requirements, facilitating a seamless workflow that greatly enhances the productivity and efficiency of our marine fuel delivery operations,” said Kang.
The company is now ready to adopt e-BDN into its operations after a year’s worth of testing the solution together with assistance from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
“We initially encountered challenges such as crews’ resistance to new technologies, data network firewalls from client’s internal ship systems, and connectivity issues when out at sea,” he shared.
“However, solutions were found when everybody worked together.
“Crew were won over by the increased efficiency offered by e-BDN, firewalls were overcome after discussion between IT engineers from various sides, and connectivity issues were solved through the use of 5G/4G/LTE networks.”
Yamano, meanwhile, expects the implementation of e-BDN to save at least two hours of manual data entry work for involved personnel per day.
“e-BDN will be much more efficient for Cargo Officers. Additionally, using electronic documents means we will be saving paper which is good for the environment,” he said.
“Our frontline crew who are already experienced through participation in the trials are now familiar using e-BDN. The next step is training for the backend staff who will be integrating the e-BDN system into their own workflow.”
Manifold Times in late October reported the MPA issuing Port Marine Circular No 12 of 2023 which outlines guidelines for the use of digital bunkering services for the bunker supplier, bunker craft operator and the vessel receiving bunkers as well as a sample of the e-BDN issued in Singapore.
Related: Singapore: MPA publishes guidelines for bunker suppliers in preparation of e-BDN launch
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Other related: Singapore: Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading to start methanol bunkering operations at republic by 2026
Other related: ZeroNorth consolidates existing bunkering business following acquisitions
Other related: ZeroNorth acquires Singapore’s bunker supplier software provider BTS
Photo credit: Golden Island Diesel Oil Trading
Published: 27 November 2023
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