Asia/Pacific News
MPA: Singapore is Ready for Commercial Scale Methanol Bunkering Operations
The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) today said the country is now ready for commercial scale methanol bunkering operations following the completion of a SIMOPS methanol bunkering operation.
The simultaneous methanol bunkering and cargo operation stem took place on Monday May 27, and saw X-Press Feeder container vessel lift almost 300 metric tonnes (MT) of bio-methanol.
The fuel was provided by licensed supplier GET via dedicated IMO type II chemical bunker tanker M/T Kara.
The methanol itself was produced by OCI Global.
The stem also saw the use of a mass flow metering (MFM) system for methanol, together with the use of digital bunkering.
The SIMOPS methanol bunkering follows Singapore’s first successful ship-to-ship methanol bunkering.
That took place on Friday May 24, and saw Stena Prosperous lift 1,340 mt of blended methanol.
Singapore’s inaugural ship-to-containership methanol bunkering involved the Laura Maersk in July 2023.
“The successful execution of the SIMOPS is the outcome of many months of preparation for tripartite stakeholders to plan, prepare, and train to ensure the safety of the crew, port and vessel, while maintaining a high level of efficiency,” said Mr Teo Eng Dih, Chief Executive, MPA.
“The learnings gained from these operations will help to further refine the various SOPs and safety measures. We thank all our SIMOPS partners in helping to achieve this and we look forward to working with other like-minded partners, including on the use of digital bunkering and mass flow meter solutions, to operationalise the delivery of the new marine fuels in Singapore.”
