NEXT year, Singapore’s port will be the world’s first to fully implement digital bunkering in a move away from physical documents, Senior Minister of State for Transport Amy Khor announced on Wednesday (Oct 9).
Bunkering, or the supplying of fuel to ships, usually requires involved parties – including the bunker supplier, ship owner and authorities – to exchange physical documents.
But from Apr 1, 2025, all bunker suppliers in Singapore will have to provide digital bunkering services and issue electronic bunker delivery notes (e-BDNs) as the default.
“This will boost efficiency and transparency during the bunkering process in Singapore and is expected to help the industry save close to 40,000 man-days annually,” said Dr Khor at the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition at Marina Bay Sands.
“This represents a key milestone to further strengthen the competitiveness and efficiency of bunkering in Singapore,” said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in a statement.
This was among several maritime industry announcements on Thursday, including the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a regulatory change that helps companies save costs, and updates on the adoptions of cleaner fuels and technologies.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Bunkering up
After its first pilot e-BDN transaction in 2021, Singapore began a digital bunkering scheme in November 2023. But it has not been made mandatory until now.
In addition to improving efficiency, digital bunkering will reduce processing time and errors, improve accountability and compliance, and make it easier to detect fraud.
MPA will set up a centralised e-BDN record verification facility, where stakeholders can verify e-BDNs against information transmitted to MPA.
Singapore is the world’s top bunkering port, with a record 51.8 million tonnes of bunker sales in 2023.
In the first eight months of 2024, total bunker sales crossed 36 million tonnes, up 7 per cent from the same period last year.
AI apps, cost savings
On Jan 1, 2025, MPA will also launch two AI-driven applications to improve the speed and accuracy of ship certificate renewals for Singapore-registered vessels.
DocuMind reads information from different document formats, while DocuMatch verifies data against internal databases and recommends application approvals.
These applications are expected to speed up certificate processing times for most transactions to within a few minutes, from the current duration of up to three days.
MPA intends to apply AI-powered tools to other areas of the industry in 2025.
Separately, to reduce costs for the industry, MPA will reduce verification requirements for mass flow meters, which measure liquid volumes during bunkering operations.
From April 2025, these meters will need to be checked once a year, down from twice previously.
The move is in line with updated standards and was taken after “careful study”, said the authority. It is expected to save the industry around S$300,000 a year.
Cleaner fuels and tech adoption continues
MPA also gave updates on green fuel efforts.
In July, two consortia were shortlisted to propose an ammonia bunkering project on Jurong Island. In addition to three earlier-selected proposals from Itochu, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and Sumitomo, another two have now been accepted – from Mitsui & Co and Fortescue-Equatorial Marine Fuels.
Out of the two consortia, the chosen developer will be selected in the first quarter of 2025.
The project includes a power plant that will generate 55 to 65 megawatts of electricity from imported low or zero-carbon ammonia, and ammonia bunkering at a capacity of at least 100,000 tonnes a year.
MPA is also committing another S$50 million to the updated Maritime Singapore Green Initiative (MSGI), which has been extended to 2030.
MSGI encourages the adoption of cleaner, lower-emissions technologies through various initiatives such as discounts for cleaner vessels, funding for Port of Singapore decarbonisation projects, and the development and commercialisation of new technologies.
It was launched in 2011 and last had a five-year extension to the end of 2024.
