Turkey Mandates Refineries and Oil Terminals to Use Mass Flow Meters

The industry has had three years to prepare for the change, which now takes effect from February 15, 2017.

Following the introduction of a new regulation in Turkey, all refineries and terminals – including those serving the country's local bunker industry - will be required to use mass flow meters (MFMs) to transfer product.

The industry has had three years to prepare for the change, which now takes effect from February 15, 2017.

"There are some 15,000 ships taking bunker in Turkey every year, and there are 200 active tankers in Turkey, 60 of them bunker barges. So I think the government has taken a very clever and efficient decision for all terminals to now have MFMs installed," a local bunker player told Ship & Bunker.

"There is only one refinery and there terminals serving Istanbul and the Izmit Bay area, which is 95 percent of the bunker industry in Turkey, so this is a much better system than installing MFMs on 200 individual vessels."

The move comes at a time of increased debate over the use of technology to tackle malpractice in the bunker industry, not least of which stems from Singapore having introduced mandatory mass flow meter use for MFO bunkering from January 1, 2017.

Players in Hong Kong, Fujairah, and Turkey are also among those now choosing to offer the technology voluntarily.

While one player in Turkey told Ship & Bunker that it was rare to see volume related malpractice in the local market, they nevertheless welcomed the move.

"The Turkish bunker market has been very reliable for many years and we hear about almost zero cases of short delivery. I am sure that this is because already all barges are loaded under the supervision of customs officers who monitor all terminals by radar and electronic systems, while all discharges and loadings at refineries and terminals are performed under the control of independent surveyors," they told Ship & Bunker.

"Still, this new rule is welcome as it should only add to Turkey's high standards and reliable position in bunker market."

The debate over the use of MFMs for bunkering will no doubt continue this year, with the Port of Rotterdam among those investigating the technology.

Still, Mustafa Muhtaroglu, Chief Executive of Turkish supplier Energy Petrol, recently told Ship & Bunker that MFMs should not be considered a "magic box" that will solve all of the problems in the bunker industry.

Instead, a quality supply chain with players agreeing to work to a code of ethics is the best was to eradicate malpractice, he said.