World Bunkering >Articles > Fuel management > Entering a new era

Speaking at the IBIA Convention on the theme Quantity Determination – Towards an Industry Stakeholders’ Standard, Seah Khen Hee gave delegates an insight on how important new meter measuring technologies could prove to be.

Mr Seah has been a well-known figure in the Singapore scene going way back to the days of the old Port of Singapore Authority. He is now Chairman of the Technical Committee on Bunkering, Spring Singapore (the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board) and has been at the centre of recent developments on meter measuring.

Mr Seah recalled that previously in Singapore the measurement of supplies had been based on company-based delivery procedures. There was no uniform practice and problematic deliveries were common. An industry standard was needed and that came in the form of the Singapore Bunkering Procedure (SBP). Under the Technical Committee for Bunkering, Singapore standards were developed: SS600 (CP60 and CP77) and SS524.

While the situation is much improved, the current tank gauging method of measuring deliveries has limitations. For example, many tasks are performed manually, there is need for considerable documentation, the process is time consuming and the results of manual tank gauging cannot be integrated with info-comm technologies. In addition, cost pressures helped prompt the recognition of a need for new technology in quantity determination.

Mass flow metering has emerged as the way forward. It directly measures mass, density and temperature and can achieve high accuracy. Metering also has the same calibration for a range of liquid flow conditions and has bi-directional flow measurement, ie loading, delivery. In addition, metering technology can detect entrained gas and measure in two-phase flow conditions. The equipment has no moving parts and, crucially, can be integrated with info-comm technologies.

The new metering technology offers the prospect of an increase, in Singapore’s case, in port bunkering of up to twice current volumes, allowing the bunker industry to grow further within the existing physical constraints. This can be achieved through raised efficiency and productivity, leading to faster bunker turnarounds and shorter port stay. That in turn could mean more cargo, bunkers, surveys, jobs, storage, and trading at the same time as reduced administrative processes and costs. “Singapore and all stakeholders benefit,” claimed Mr Seah.

Mass flow metering is now available to the shipping industry. Mr Seah mentioned the BP/Invensys trials in Singapore, Endress & Hauser’s mass flow meter installed on a Star Cruises vessel and the Emerson/Exxon/Maersk trials in Europe. He noted Maersk is installing mass flow meters on its fleet of vessels.

Mr Seah noted there had been some concerns on accuracy and entrained gas. He said the important thing was to minimise entrained gas at source, but even when gas was present, 0.5% accuracy in delivery was achieved. He said that as the industry was now approaching the implementation stage it had to decide between tank gauging and mass flow metering. He suggested a new pricing model and incentives could assist the introduction of metering.

Since the Convention, Mr Seah told World Bunkering that a working group on the introduction of mass flow metering has been meeting regularly. He said: “Much work still lies ahead, although there is good progress so far.”

It could be a few months yet before Singapore decides exactly how to proceed with mass flow metering but clearly the era of manual tank sounding is drawing to a close.