Singapore port plans new system to boost bunkering transparency

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) plans to start registering sales of bunker fuel electronically over the next two years to improve efficiency and trade transparency at the world's largest bunkering port.

The plans announced by MPA on Tuesday are also expected to reduce risk of fraud which has plagued the bunkering industry.

The MPA plans to convert to electronic bunker delivery notes from physical documents next year, MPA Chief Technology Officer Thomas Ting said at the SIBCON 2022 conference.

This will be followed by a project to register oil flows digitally in 2024 using a mass flow meter, he added.

Such oil measurements are currently taken manually on board ships while the documents have to be passed through companies in the supply chain to banks for trade financing to be processed.

(Reporting by Jeslyn LerhEditing by David Goodman)

By Jeslyn Lerh