MPA strips fuel services provider Southernpec of licence
The Maritime And Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore has stripped marine fuel services provider Southernpec (Singapore) Pte Ltd of its licence to operate as a bunker fuel supplier in the port of Singapore, with effect from yesterday.
The MPA revoked Southernpec's bunker supplier licence after investigations revealed a breach of the terms and malpractice, including the use of magnets to interfere with a mass flow meter (MFM) during a fuelling operation, the agency said in a statement.
Powerful magnets can distort MFM measurements for delivered fuels, making it possible to short deliveries to customers.
The MPA had on May 8 revoked Southernpec's licence to operate bunker barges in the world's largest bunkering hub, following results of the same investigation, but it had allowed the bunker operator to retain its marine fuel supply licence until now.
Similar enforcement checks by the port authority and challenging market conditions has seen the pool of licensed marine fuel suppliers in Singapore shrink from 55 in 2017 to 48, following the forced exit of Southernpec.
Southernpec in 2018 ranked as Singapore's 30th-largest marine fuel supplier by volumes delivered out of 51 other operators, according to the MPA.
Singapore became the first port to mandate the use of MFMs in 2017 in an effort to boost transparency in the notoriously opaque industry, making the meters compulsory for marine fuel oil bunker barges licensed by the MPA. - REUTERS
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