First Live Digital Bunker Delivery Financing Carried Out in Singapore

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday July 21, 2021

A group of companies have joined forces to carry out Singapore's first live bunker delivery financing using a digital BDN.

In the transaction bunker supplier TFG Marine supplied an Ocean Network Express ship with fuel, financed by Singapore lender band with support from Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority and digital services provider Ascenz.

"Banks currently rely on physical copies of the BDN and other supporting documents to avail bunker financing to clients," DBS said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

"This is a cumbersome process that typically takes a few days to a week as clients have to manually deliver the physical BDN back to shore for compilation with other paper documents, before a trade finance application can be submitted.

"The newly digitalised process demonstrated that in future clients will be able to obtain financing for their underlying trade in under two hours, enabling them to obtain working capital faster and better manage their cashflows."

The use of the digital BDN will also mitigate the risk of fraud in bunker transactions, DBS said.