EMEA News
ARA Ports to Hold Meeting on MFMs Amid Concerns Over Viability of Regulation
The port authorities of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges are set to hold a meeting with bunker industry stakeholders on MFM regulations this week amid concerns over their viability ahead of next year's deadline.
The two authorities are set to make mass flow meters mandatory for bunker barges over 300 GT in size from the start of 2026. The meters are designed as a more accurate measurement system for bunker deliveries, to avoid deliberate or accidental delivery of less fuel than is paid for.
The authorities had announced the plan to a meeting with local stakeholders in October 2023, seeking feedback for a week before presenting the plan publicly later that month with little changed.
The authorities are now holding another meeting on February 12 to receive further feedback ahead of the regulation coming into force next year.
Robust Regulation
Some in the industry are concerned that the regulations governing the use of MFMs at ARA ports are insufficiently robust, with ISO 22192 standards on the procedures and requirements for bunkering using MFMs not fully integrated into the rules. They argue this could allow the meters to be tampered with to reduce their efficacy, meaning quantity disputes could continue despite the new rules.
"We strongly recommend that ARA mandates that MFMs are certified and operated to international compliance standards," Kenneth Dam, global head of bunkering at TFG Marine, told Ship & Bunker on Monday.
"Otherwise the issues with non-compliant deliveries will continue unchanged.
"The lack of ISO 22192 standards will mean the market will not change, and both the Port of Antwerp and the Port of Rotterdam have spent time on a great initiative, but the execution has problems.
"We expect volumes will continue to decline in these ports, as owners and charterers will not find trust in the new regulation without the ISO 22192 standard."
MFMs are a more accurate means of measuring bunker deliveries.
Traditional tank soundings taken with a measuring tape are vulnerable to both accidental and deliberate misreporting of delivered volumes. The 'cappuccino bunkers' effect, where air bubbles in the oil give the impression of more fuel having been delivered than was actually the case, has been a longstanding problem in the industry, and one that can be eliminated by the use of MFMs.
Singapore used to be the bunkering location with the biggest problem of quantity disputes before it introduced its MFM mandate.
The city-state's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) imposed the mandate for fuel oil deliveries from the start of 2017 and extended it to cover distillates from July 2019.
