EMEA News
IBIA CONVENTION: Viking Marine Sees Little Cause for Quantity Disputes in Fujairah
While the Port of Fujairah is now considering following Singapore and Rotterdam in mandating the use of mass flow meters for bunkering, the data suggest quantity disputes may be less of a pressing issue there than at other locations.
Vikram Mohan, managing director of Viking Marine Services, addressed the topic in a panel session at the IBIA Annual Convention 2023 in Dubai last week.
He set out the average difference between bunker delivery notes and the fuel actually received in data from about 2,400 deliveries in Fujairah so far this year.
"We have an average discrepancy between the BDN and the received as about 1.6 mt," Mohan said.
"The difference between BDN and stem is roughly around 9 mt and between BDN and received is about 1.6 mt."
Mass flow meters are a more accurate method of measuring bunker deliveries than traditional processes, and port authorities are increasingly looking at them as a means of eliminating quantity disputes.
But the meters used in Singapore are stated as coming with a +/-0.5% margin of error.
Earlier at the same event, Glander International Bunkering's Sean Burgin said the average stem size in Fujairah was now about 600-700 mt. Taking the midpoint of that estimate, the margin of error could result in a discrepancy of 3.25 mt per stem in either direction.
