March 12, 2018 [Platts] - Having successfully executed its first concurrent bunkering operations at its terminal in January, Stolthaven Singapore hopes more chemical vessels will bunker alongside its terminal at Tembusu on Jurong Island, the company's assistant commercial manager Mark Lim told S&P Global Platts Friday.
On Saturday, chemical tanker Stolt Renge will refuel while berthed alongside the terminal and at the same time load and discharge cargoes, making it the second concurrent bunkering operations for the terminal in weeks.
“There’s a lot of coordination with various parties and time needed to arrange for concurrent bunkering. Whilst streamlining our operations to benefit customers is a clear driver, we would not do this at the expense of safety,” said parent company Stolt-Nielsen Limited’s managing director APAC & MEA Bill Bryant.
Its move to offer bunkering alongside is timely as the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore closed the ALGAS anchorage on March 1 to make way for the expansion of Tuas mega port.
ALGAS anchorage is a specially designated area for LPG, LNG and chemical gas carriers. Before the closure of ALGAS, vessels calling at Stolthaven Singapore’s terminal had to take bunkers by sailing out to the anchorage.
“We are continuing to seek ways to drive efficiency across all our assets. In the case of our tankers, time in port continues to be an area we are working to optimize. The ability to do more than one operation concurrently is a clear driver of efficiency for work that was previously carried out sequentially,” Bryant said.
“Our driver for doing this alongside at our own terminals is that we have all the relevant safety equipment for the safe handling of chemicals,” he added.
The terminal carried out its first bunkering alongside operations in January, when chemical tanker Stolt Virtue berthed at the terminal, taking in bunkers while performing loading and discharging operations for chemicals.
Bunker supplier Sentek Marine & Trading supplied 800 mt of 380 CST bunker fuel and 70 mt of low sulfur marine gasoil to Stolt Virtue.
In addition to bunkering, other operations can also be completed during the loading and discharging of cargoes, such as concurrent ship-to-ship operations, nitrogen purging of ship tanks and transshipment.
Stolthaven Singapore’s general manager Chok Vui Shung said bunkering while cargo operations were being carried out, offered potential cost savings for customers and improved ship turnaround times.
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