The Bunkering Services Initiative (BSI) has received support from officials at the Port of Rotterdam and the IBIA, who encouraged greater industry participation in the initiative.

The remarks were made at the recent ARACON conference held in Rotterdam and shared with Ship & Bunker by the BSI.

Annemarie van Daalen, Programme Manager for Bunkering at the Port of Rotterdam, urged industry participants to join the BSI, saying it could help improve bunkering standards.

“It's the total industry, the bunker industry, who has to make an effort in it," she said at the conference. 

“And I think I will encourage the BSI initiative because we can't have a preferred supplier and every initiative which makes this thing better is good, but we know the BSI, and I can only say join it because it makes this industry better.”

IBIA board member Claudia Beumer also backed the initiative, saying the industry needed to move beyond mass flow meters alone to improve bunkering practices.

“We talk too much about flow meters, and a flow meter in itself is not solving anything,” Beumer said.

“It's an enabler to do a different way of working, and I think that is what we need in our industry. We need to work differently. BSI is a good example of that.”

The comments followed an update on BSI by Tyler Baron, CEO of global bunker supplier Minerva Bunkering, who said at the conference that BSI had recorded a quantity claims ratio of 0.007% in the ARA bunker market since the start of 2026.

The BSI has also recorded an off-spec fuel ratio of 0.6% and 180 minutes of cumulative vessel delay, averaging 34 seconds per delivery.

“So essentially, there's no lost time from the barges,” Baron said.

The initiative brings together marine fuel suppliers, buyers and other stakeholders seeking to improve delivery standards through monitored barges, mass flow meters, digitalised deliveries and transparency on marine fuel quality.

Minerva is one of the founding members of the BSI.

Chia How Khee, Global TFG Fleet Manager at TFG Marine, another founding member, said the initiative could benefit the wider bunkering industry.

“Beyond ARA, for those who are operating and buying bunkers throughout the globe, you should also consider such an initiative [as the BSI] because this is how we actually bring the industry forward,” he said.

He added that the BSI's digitalisation and transparency measures could help improve bunkering practices globally.