Bunkering Licence Applications

A company shall possess a valid Bunkering Licence (Bunker Supplier) issued by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in order to supply bunkers to vessels in the Port of Singapore using its own delivery documents.

Licensing Requirements

To obtain a new Bunkering Licence (Bunker Supplier), the company must commit to have both bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licences. In addition, the company must satisfy the following requirements:

• To have a minimum paid up capital of S$500,000;
• To have a certified Quality Management System for Bunker Supply Chain (QMBS) in accordance with the Singapore Standard 524; 
• To submit a detailed Background and Organisational Structure of the company:
• To submit the business profile of company as registered with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA);
• To include profile of shareholders and directors that are registered in ACRA's records (inclusive of their date of birth) and their experiences in bunkering.
• To submit proposed business plan, inclusive of the following information:
  • Investment in Storage Facilities in Singapore: preferably own or lease storage facilities
  • Bunker Sales Commitments: To provide 3-year bunker sales projection (average of Singapore’s top ten bunker suppliers)
  • Investment in Dual-Fuelled bunker tanker: To own and operate at least two dual-fuelled bunker tanker
  • Ability to have control of the fuel oil cargo sources and availability of low sulphur fuel oil
  • Proven Track Record and performance in other ports, if any, in terms of bunker sales and customer base
  • To provide annual bunker sales delivered for the past 3 years
  • Presence in Singapore: Applicant or its related companies, beyond the bunkering sector should have significant presence in Singapore
  • Any other Value-Add Proposition(s) that can further improve the bunkering sector (e.g. improvement, less reliance on foreign labour)

All bunker surveying companies that provide bunker surveying services in the Port of Singapore are required to be licensed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) with effect from 1 January 2017.

Please refer to the Guidelines (.pdf, 105 KB) for more information.

To apply for the licence of a new bunker tanker, refer to registering a bunker tanker.

As bunker tankers are also harbour craft, the licensing requirements for harbour craft in general are also apply.

De-bunkering operations in port can be carried out only with the express permission of the Port Master. An application for the process must be made.

Regulation 44 of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (Port) Regulations 1997 states:

"No person shall cause or permit a vessel to undertake ship-to-ship transfer of bulk liquid without the written permission of the Port Master and except under such conditions as the Port Master may impose."

Pursuant to the above, the Port Master would consider granting permission to the owner, agent, master or person-in-charge of a vessel to offload her bunkers, i.e., Marine Fuel Oil (MFO), Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) and/or Marine Gas Oil (MGO), from the vessel's bunker tank(s), provided that the intended de-bunkering operation is due to any of the following reasons:

• The vessel needs to enter a local shipyard for repairs, docking, etc.
• The vessel received wrong grade(s) of bunker fuel from her last call to Singapore Port; and
• Other reason(s) subject to approval by the Port Master.

In this regard, the owner, agent, master, bunker supplier, bunker craft operator or person in charge will submit a completed application form for a de-bunkering operation at least three working days before the intended date of the operation to the Standards and Investigation - Marine Fuel at the following:

Standards and Investigation - Marine Fuel
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
7B Keppel Road #21-07
Tanjong Pagar Complex
Singapore 089055

Email: bsd@mpa.gov.sg

The accreditation scheme for bunker suppliers aims to recognise good bunker suppliers while deterring malpractice in the industry. 

The scheme was developed by MPA and the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) and was implemented on 1 June 2003.

Annual renewal of the bunkering licence is subject to the suppliers achieving the accreditation qualifications below. 

 

To be accredited, Bunker suppliers should meet the following three qualifications:

1.  Minimum Paid-up Capital

Bunker suppliers shall have a minimum paid-up of $500,000. They must have the minimum paid-up capital or more when renewing their licences.

2. Quality Management for Bunker Supply Chain (QMBS)

Bunker suppliers shall have a quality management system for bunker supply chain (QMBS). The quality management system should be based on the requirements as specified in the SS 524:2021, published by SPRING Singapore.

Bunker suppliers shall engage a certification body which is accredited by the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) for quality management system (QMS) to certify their compliance with SS 524:2021. An annual audit report has to be submitted to MPA before the expiry of their annual licences. The list of SAC accredited QMS certification bodies can be obtained from the SAC website.

SS 524:2021 can be purchased via the Singapore Standards eshop or by contacting:

Toppan Leefung Pte Ltd
1 Kim Seng Promenade #18-01
Great World City East Tower
Singapore 237994
Customer Service Hotline: (65) 6826 9691

Fax: (65) 6820 3341

Email: singaporestandardseshop@toppanleefung.com

3. Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

The objective of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is to encourage accredited bunker suppliers to maintain a high standard of bunkering services in port so as to improve service level to customers. Bunker suppliers must satisfy the three KPIs, namely, Craft Operations Records, Bunker Supply Records and Customer Feedback Records, during the 12-month assessment period.

Each KPI will consist of the following components and weights:

KPI	Components	Weightage
Craft Operations Records(COR)	•    Collision / Crew injury   •    Pollution to sea   •    Compliance with bunker tanker standards  •    Others	15%
Bunker Supply Records (BSR)	•    Compliance with SS 600 and SS 648	70%
Customer Feedback Records (CFR)	•    Customer feedback on every bunkering operation	15%
Total		100%

Mechanism of KPI

When a bunkering licence is approved and at the beginning of every renewal of licence, a bunker supplier will be allotted 100 points for each category of KPI by MPA. The supplier will strive to maintain the points allotted during the licensing period. Additional merit points for each KPI will be allotted to a bunker supplier if it had no adverse records on each KPI at the end of the year under review. Conversely, if a supplier's performance is not satisfactory during the year, demerit points will be given, which deducts from the points allotted.

The respective demerit points and merit points for the KPI are given below.

During the licensing period, the bunker supplier shall maintain a minimum total weighted score (TWS) of 75 in order to be accredited or remain in the accreditation scheme.

 

Merit and Demerit Points of KPI
KPI	Demerit Points	Merit Points
Craft Operations Records (COR)     (a) Collision / Crew Injury  (b) Pollution to Sea  (c) Non-compliance with bunker tanker standards  (d) Others	With adverse records  Max. 40  Max. 40  10               10	With no adverse records     • With no adverse records for COR : 10  • Additional (non-mandatory) Training conducted : 10
Bunker Supply Records*1(BSR)  Compliance with SS 600 and SS 648:  (a) Serious Non-compliance  (b) Moderate Non-compliance  (c) Minor Non-compliance	40  20 5	) )   10 )
Customer Feedback Records (CFR)  Annual average rating by customers*2:  (a) Below 2.0  (b) 2.0 – 2.9   (c) 3.0 – 3.9   (d) 4.0 and Above	50  30 - -	- - - 10

*1:  For BSR,

Minor Non-Compliance (NC)

1st NC (Letter of Advice – No demerit point),

2nd NC (Letter of Caution – No demerit point),

3rd & subsequent NC (Letter of Warning with 5 demerit points)

Moderate NC  – Letter of Warning with 20 demerit points

Serious NC – Letter of Warning with 40 demerit points for each NC.

*2: Bunker suppliers shall obtain from the master or chief engineer of the vessel receiving bunkers their satisfaction level of the bunkering operations. Customer’s satisfaction level on the bunker deliveries will be assessed on a scale of 1 to 5. The rating 5 denotes ‘Very Satisfied’ and the rating 1 denotes ‘Very Dissatisfied’.

Suppliers should key in the customer feedback for every bunkering operation into the MPA system when declaring their bunker operations through DigitalPORT@SG^TMto MPA.

The standard format of the feedback questionnaire is as follows:

Bunker suppliers should incorporate the above standard feedback questionnaire in the Bunker Delivery Note (BDN) or stamp the  questionnaire at the back of the BDN and obtain customer feedback for every bunkering operation.