Bye-bye paper

It is sometimes said change happens slowly, then suddenly. In Singapore the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) has been supporting the move to electronic bunker delivery (e-BDN) for some considerable time.

However, from 1 April this year, all the port’s bunker suppliers will need to provide digital bunkering services and issue e-BDN by default. The MPA says the digital bunkering initiative, which includes its e-BDN record verification, aims to streamline operations, enhance security and transparency, and is expected to save up to 40,000 man-days annually. A standard for digital bunkering supply chain documentation (SS709:2024) was also published in November 2024. Singapore is the first port to implement digital bunkering at scale for bunkering operations following approval by IMO to use eBDN at the 80th meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee in 2023.

The introduction of eBDN will inevitably add momentum to the digitisation of the bunkering business.  Metis, a company specialising in digital solutions for fleet performance management, and Neusner Digital Bunkers, a maritime software company specialising in marine fuels have entered into a strategic cooperation which they say, “aims to revolutionise bunkering operations through data-driven insights and streamlined processes”.

The collaboration is intended to use cloud-to-cloud integration for seamless data exchange to support the optimal management and execution of bunkering processes. The Metis platform will provide detailed bunkering information by port—including indicative pricing, pricing trends, fuel quality reports, bunker delivery delays, and vendor performance ratings. This enables ship operators to access vital market data alongside fleet performance metrics. Meanwhile, the Nereus platform will benefit from real customer demand-driven inquiries during the voyage planning stage.

In a separate initiative, IT solutions company Marlink, has received Type Approval Certification (TAC) from Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore (BV) for its Internet of Things (IoT) data collection solution. This enables remote users to collect the data required to understand vessel efficiency, monitor fuel consumption and lower emissions in line with ESG goals.