Digital bunkering brings positive contributions to the shipping industry, agreed panellists at the recent Accelerating Digitalisation & Decarbonisation Conference held in Singapore on Tuesday (16 April).
The group, representing various stakeholders of the marine fuels supply chain, shared their perspectives during the Digital Transformation session of the event held as part of Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) 2024.
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)
“It is quite clear to us digital transformation is going to be part of maritime sector,” said Thomas Ting, Director (Technology & Innovation) / Chief Digital Officer, MPA who added the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in July 2023 announced acceptance of electronic bunker delivery notes for both soft and hard copies.”
“We conceptualised this digital bunkering initiative since 2020 and have been talking to bunker buyers, sellers, traders, and other parties to understand their pain points and while doing so discovered obvious benefits technology brings to the marine fuels industry.”
Mr Ting, who was also moderator of the session, shared MPA launched digital bunkering in November 2023.
“We did it because we believe the industry has and could come up with the solutions and for this transformation to take place, we have to start with available technology to date,” he explained.
“We have already announced four whitelisted solutions for electronic bunker delivery notes and there are other vendors coming up.”
ZeroNorth Bunker
Kenneth Juhls, Managing Director, ZeroNorth Bunker said the technology company, amongst four whitelisted firms providing e-BDN solutions, had the pleasure of engaging with Singapore-based physical bunker suppliers and barge operators in the past four to five months.
“We performed a lot of engagement activities to explain the benefits of having a e-BDN solution to partners including chief engineers and bunker surveyors. I really see the e-BDN solution as an accelerant to other digital solutions as there are so many benefits for all parties out there,” he said.
Juhls pointed out the international maritime sector has been closely following the e-BDN development in Singapore.
“We see a lot of interest and everybody is asking us what is it all about and how will that impact us as bunker buyers. We also see other bunker suppliers in other locations keen to learn more about e-BDN,” he noted.
“Moving forward, we need to adapt the e-BDN solution and engage port authorities around the world. There is a lot of work for solution providers with a lot of investments needed; it’s not going to be easy but definitely doable. The shipping industry will eventually lean into this due to all the benefits.”
Ocean Network Express (ONE)
Richard Ho, Deputy General Manager (Fuel Department), ONE agreed on the benefits of e-BDN and proceeded to provide examples.
“Bunker supply operations are one of most complex delivery processes in shipping due to the huge amount of money and paperwork guided by several regulatory requirements including documentation for surveyors, suppliers and the local port authority,” he said.
“All these jobs create a lot of paperwork which doesn’t stop at end of delivery and continues even after payment of bunker invoices.
“We buy bunker fuel from various ports in the world where some of the traditional paper based BDNs look very different. It takes a team of six to seven people to cross-check these BDNs two to three times to verify various parameters, and the whole process takes several hours to complete.”
According to Mr Ho, e-BDNs paired with mass flowmeters (MFMs) simplify the bunkering process and create a sense of trust between counterparties.
“There is no cost to us as a shipowner; in fact, there are cost savings. With e-BDNs we now have verified and validated information from a single source of truth – which is the MFM – to minimise potential fraud and save time from excessive checks.
“Digital bunkering and e-BDN, which are well aligned with the ONE Digitalisation strategy, is going to have a huge impact on how we do things.”
Working Group on Electronic Documentation for Bunkering
Dennis Ho, Co-Convenor, Working Group on Electronic Documentation for Bunkering, pointed out the rollout of e-BDNs will help push the introduction of a digital bunkering supply chain documentation standard in Singapore – which is currently under public consultation.
The standard specifies requirements for the main types of digital documents utilised and exchanged within bunkering supply chains, aligning with established business practices and bunkering standards.
“The digital bunkering supply chain documentation standard is not just about e-BDNs,” he said, while adding, “it also includes 15 other documents involved in the bunkering process.”
“The working group will continue to do regular reviews and updates when it comes.
“This is just the start of this Standard. As the industry begins to adopt the Standard, we will continue to review the Standard and make updates.”
Mr Ho, who is also the Managing Director of bunker trading firm ElbOil Singapore Pte Ltd, noted commercial banks such as UOB, DBS, together with the Association of Banks in Singapore, have been involved in the creation of the documentation standard.
“We are planning a series of public engagement for the digital bunkering supply chain documentation standard to clear any doubts,” he stated.
“Our hope is eventually, other ports will adopt this standard. Adding on, we recognise the industry players will take time to adopt, hence, we have made the Standard to be backwards compatible as a requirement.”
Singapore Shipping Association
Apostolos Boutos, Marine Fuels Committee Chairman, Singapore Shipping Association stated digital bunkering brings many benefits to both bunker suppliers and ship owners within the maritime ecosystem but highlighted work still needs to be done in certain key areas.
“A lot of shipowners and buyers are still lagging behind in digital bunkering trials and we have to convince them digital bunkering is beneficial,” he pointed out.
“Also, there is the question of who pays for the cost. The responsibility of the bunker barge operator, ship owner, or bunker suppliers as the technical provider for the e-BDN solution is progressively addressed.
“Network connectivity within the port plays a pivotal role in digital bunkering. Gaps in network connectivity, where disruption occurs in some areas of the anchorage where the mobile network is not so strong and of the receiving vessel’s structure interfering with the network connection of the bunker tanker are areas currently being addressed. Though it must be mentioned all e-BDN solution providers offer an offline option too.
“Data security and ownership are also topics being discussed at SSA. Further, there are several e-BDN solution providers in Singapore. Regarding crew training, what happens when a bunkering firm is using solution ‘A’ but another vessel using solution ‘B’ for e-BDN? A current suggestion is for workflow between all e-BDN solution providers to be relatively similar and forms to be standardised.”
Editor’s note: For more information SSA has prepared a detailed FAQ on Digital Bunkering in Singapore which covers various aspects related to the eBDN implementation. The full FAQ document can be found at the SSA website (https://www.ssa.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/vAprSMW-FAQ-on-Digital-Bunkering-Final.pdf)
Related: IBIA: MEPC 80 confirms acceptance for electronic bunker delivery notes
Related: Singapore set to become first port in the world to debut electronic bunker delivery notes
Related: ZeroNorth enables Golden Island to become Singapore’s first 100% digital bunker supplier
Related: Singapore: EnterpriseSG issues call for public comments on digital bunkering supply chain documentation
Related: Former PA to Hin Leong Trading Founder refutes OK Lim’s claim on his role in firm
Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 30 April 2024
Lubricants2 weeks ago