Singapore, the world's largest bunkering hub, is enhancing its bunker fuel testing regime in a bid to ensure compliance with stricter international regulations, according to Ship & Bunker.
According to a port circular issued by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore on February 7, all MPA-licensed bunker suppliers should follow "enhanced testing parameters for marine fuel batches intended to be delivered as bunkers in the port of Singapore in addition to the existing quality assurance measures".
"These testing enhancements are intended to be carried out at the upstream supply chain for system efficiencies and cost effectiveness compared to doing so for each delivery," the port circular said.
The enhanced testing parameters have been developed following the supply of contaminated bunkers that affected some 200 ships in Singapore in February 2022. In the incident, high sulfur fuel oil supplied was found to contain high levels of chlorinated organic compound. An expert industry group was formed after the incident to look at what improvements could be made to quality assurance.
The new rules on bunker fuel testing come into force in Singapore from June 1.