Bunker Surveyors Look Abroad as Singapore MFM Regs Set to Come Into Force: Reports

Small and medium sized bunker surveyor companies in Singapore are looking to overseas opportunities.

Small and medium sized bunker surveyor companies in Singapore are looking to overseas opportunities as Singapore's mass flow meter (MFM) regulations are expected to dampen demand for surveying services, Platts reports.

MFMs will become mandatory for MFO deliveries in Singapore from January 1, 2017.

"We have a lot of customers from Europe and they said the standard of surveying in the Middle East is not as high as in Singapore, so we went there," said Tanjit Singh, director of Lighthouse Marine & Inspection Service Pte Ltd. (Lighthouse Marine & Inspection Service), which expanded into Dubai, Fujairah, and Abu Dhabi in August.

Potential Inspection Services Pte Ltd (Potential Inspection Services), which says it has also begun overseas operations, opened an office in Hong Kong in August, company director Daniel Phua said.

"There are more business opportunities in Hong Kong for bunker surveyors as mass flow meters are not mandatory there," said Phua, adding that bunker surveyors who can not expand overseas expansion can upgrade their roles to become Authorized Verifiers.

A period of consolidation among surveyors has also been suggested, 

One industry source suggested that, in cases where consolidation is not feasible, bunker surveyors could transition to marine cargo inspections or loss adjusting.

Still, the introduction of MFM requirements does not eliminate the need for bunker surveyors.

Abdul Farhan, Operation Manager / Chief Surveyor of Bunker Detective Asia Pte. Ltd has previously told Ship & Bunker that using a surveyor during bunkering is still much needed to help there is no malpractice with the flow meter, as well as take tank soundings in the event there is a failure with the mass flow meter during bunkering, for example if the barge loses power or there is some other malfunction.