Ang Wee Keong, chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Image Credit: MPA

As part of SIBCON 2026, held in Singapore from October 13-15, Ship & Bunker put questions to Ang Wee Keong, chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), on the port's competitiveness and resilience, its readiness for a multi-fuel future, and the next phase of digital bunkering.

Competitiveness and Resilience

S&B: Spot premiums have widened this year, and the Hormuz closure and Red Sea disruption have rerouted both cargo and fuel. How much of Singapore's attractiveness as a bunkering destination rests on price versus other factors such as quality and reliability, what have the disruptions taught MPA about supply resilience, and what will it take to maintain Singapore's position as the fuel mix changes?

Ang Wee Keong: Singapore operates in a competitive bunkering market. Price matters, particularly for spot purchases, and when price differentials widen, buyers will look at their options.

But besides price, ships also look at their routes, the availability and reliability of supply, assurance over quantity and quality, and the overall efficiency of the port call when deciding where to bunker. Singapore's value comes from bringing these together at a location with significant shipping demand and a wide range of marine services.

Trust is an important part of this. Over the years, we have progressively strengthened our licensing regime, fuel quality requirements and mass flow metering, and of course, digital bunkering. At SIBCON 2026, we are adding to this with new standards for bunker sampling and testing for polymers in residual-based marine fuels. Together, these measures strengthen assurance on the quality and reliability of bunker fuels supplied in Singapore.

Recent disruptions have brought another consideration to the fore — resilience of fuel supply. Singapore imports almost all our marine fuels, so we need diversity in our supply sources and a network of suppliers that can respond when energy and trade flows are disrupted.

The fuel supply disruptions also reinforce the value of having more fuel options available to international shipping over time. While the transition to alternative fuels is primarily driven by decarbonisation, a more diverse fuel mix can also provide greater optionality when individual fuel supply chains are disrupted.

As the fuel mix changes, the assurance framework and supporting capabilities will have to develop with it. New fuels have different properties, risks and handling requirements. Our approach is to progressively build the standards, supplier capabilities, infrastructure and operating experience across the different fuel pathways, informed by trials and actual operations. This allows us to build meaningful capability ahead of demand, while scaling each pathway in step with how the technology, supply chains and market mature.

Multi-Fuel Readiness, Standards and Safety

S&B: What is the current state of play for LNG, methanol, ammonia and ethanol in Singapore in terms of supply readiness, standards and contractual frameworks, how are international partnerships such as the green and digital shipping corridors helping, and how does Singapore plan multi-fuel infrastructure while the IMO regulatory signal remains uncertain?

Ang Wee Keong: The direction towards lower-emission shipping is clear. What is less certain is which fuel pathways will scale, and how quickly. There is no compelling need to pick a winner amongst the alternative fuels for now. Our approach is to build readiness across different fuels and scale the capabilities for each as the technology, supply chains and demand mature.

The different fuel pathways are at different stages of technical and commercial readiness. LNG is already established as a marine fuel in Singapore. Eight new bunker supplier licences were issued in September 2026, and we plan to launch a licence application exercise for up to two LNG Floating Storage Units at Singapore anchorages to provide additional storage capacity, complementing the existing Singapore LNG terminals. Methanol has moved from trials towards commercial supply, with technical standards in place and three bunker supplier licenses issued this year.

For ammonia, building on the operational learning gained from earlier trials, we have launched Technical Reference 148 for ammonia bunkering at SIBCON. However, safety and technical readiness are only part of what is needed for a market to develop. The Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration has launched a new Ammonia Bunkering Form for public consultation. This form provides a contractual framework for ammonia bunkering transactions, giving buyers and suppliers greater clarity on the commercial aspects of ammonia bunkering as the market develops.

We are looking at other pathways as well, including ethanol. The simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) for ethanol bunkering trial to be conducted in Singapore will give us practical experience in its handling and bunkering, helping to inform future technical and regulatory requirements.

Trials are critical to building readiness. They bring the fuel, infrastructure, vessels, operating procedures and safety arrangements together under actual operating conditions, helping us identify gaps and refine what is needed to scale.

New marine fuels are much more likely to scale if ships can use them safely and reliably across a wide range of different ports. This is where our Green and Digital Shipping Corridors are useful. They bring together fuel producers, ports and shipping companies, test solutions across a shipping route, and work through the standards, infrastructure and operating requirements needed for deployment. As an example, under the Singapore-Australia corridor, we are working with Pilbara Ports Authority on the validation of Singapore's Technical Reference for Ammonia Bunkering.

There is still considerable uncertainty around fuel availability, cost, technology and the global regulatory pathway. The discussions at IMO show that countries have different views on the pace and mechanisms for the transition. That uncertainty affects companies' investment decisions.

The practical implication is that investment has to be staged and coordinated across the value chain. We need to invest early enough to build capability and support emerging demand, but not so far ahead that infrastructure significantly outpaces the market. Shipowners, fuel producers, ports and infrastructure providers also need confidence that the other parts of the ecosystem will develop alongside them. Standards, trials and partnerships help build that confidence, allowing investment and capability to scale together as the different fuel pathways mature.

Digitalisation

S&B: Digital bunkering and e-BDN have been mandatory for over a year. What has it delivered so far, what comes next, including on interoperability between the industry's different systems, and how does the digital infrastructure support licensed suppliers' counterparty risk checks?

Ang Wee Keong: Digital bunkering has made a good start by removing a significant amount of paperwork from the bunker transaction. The next opportunity is to improve the quality, integrity and end-to-end flow of the operational data behind it, so that more of the transaction can be captured accurately at source and exchanged between systems with less manual intervention.

At SIBCON this year, we announced Phase 2 of digital bunkering, which will commence from November 2026. Under Phase 2, next-generation data loggers onboard bunker tankers will securely capture operational data directly from Mass Flow Meter systems and enable more seamless data exchange between industry systems and MPA. This will reduce manual data entry and strengthen data integrity, enabling a more efficient and secure information flow across the bunkering value chain.

For digitalisation, interoperability is crucial in facilitating seamless data exchange between different stakeholders. Shipping companies, bunker suppliers, service providers and regulators use different systems. If information still has to be manually transferred or repeatedly reconciled between them, we will not reap the full value from digitalisation. MPA has worked closely with industry to create digital bunkering standards, such as the revised SS 648 Code of Practice of Bunker Mass Flow Metering and the SS709 Specification for Digital Bunkering Supply Chain Documentation. Common standards and more seamless data exchange allow these different systems to work better together.

Better digital records can also support risk management by giving suppliers more accurate and verifiable information about the bunker transaction. Better data can improve decisions, but it does not replace judgement, experience and due diligence. There are aspects of vessel and counterparty risks that cannot be established from bunker transaction data alone, and suppliers remain responsible for carrying out the appropriate checks before entering into a transaction.