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Bunkering

Supply of fuel for use by ships

Bunkering
Summary

Supply of fuel for use by ships

''Tatiana B'' and ''Florence B'', two bunkering tankers
The bunker barge ''Double Skin 30'' refuels the ''Margarete Schulte'' [[container ship]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]].
A livestock carrier receiving bunkers from a bunker vessel in Fremantle Harbour, Australia
A [[livestock carrier]] receiving fuel from a bunker vessel in [[Fremantle Harbour]], [[Australia
Prinsendam]]'' receiving fuel from bunkering tanker ''Mozart'' in the [[port of Zeebrugge]], [[Belgium
Bunkering tanker on the [[Nile]] near [[Luxor]], [[Egypt

Bunkering is the supplying of fuel for use by ships (such fuel is referred to as bunker), including the logistics of loading and distributing the fuel among available shipboard tanks. A person dealing in trade of bunker (fuel) is called a bunker trader.

The term bunkering originated in the days of steamships, when coal was stored in bunkers. Nowadays, the term bunker is generally applied to the petroleum products stored in tanks, and bunkering to the practice and business of refueling ships. Bunkering operations take place at seaports and include the storage and provision of the bunker (ship fuels) to vessels.

The Port of Singapore is currently the largest bunkering port in the world. In 2023, Singapore recorded bunker fuel sales volume totaling 51,824,000 tonnes, setting a new industry standard.

The Island of Malta is known to host bunkering, in six locations including Hurd's bank. In 2015 the Malta-Sicily Channel was noted as "one of the most important oil transit routes in the world," and in 2011, around eight vessels per day bunkered in Maltese waters.

Two types of bunkering

The two most common types of bunkering procedure at sea are "ship to ship bunkering" (STSB), in which one ship acts as a terminal, while the other moors. The second type is "stern line bunkering" (SLB), which is the easiest method of transferring oil but can be risky during bad weather.

Bunkering in maritime law

Main article: Admiralty law

In many maritime contracts, such as charter parties, contracts for carriage of goods by sea, and marine insurance policies, the ship-owner or ship operator is required to ensure that the ship is seaworthy. Seaworthiness requires not only that the ship be sound and properly crewed, but also that it be fully fuelled (or "bunkered") at the start of the voyage. If the ship operator wishes to bunker en route, this must be provided for in a written agreement, or the interruption of the voyage may be deemed to be deviation (a serious breach of contract). If the vessel runs out of fuel in mid-ocean, this also constitutes serious breach, allowing the insurer to cancel a policy and allowing a consignee to make a cargo claim. It may also lead to a salvage operation.

The International Maritime Organisation is an agency of the United Nations responsible for the prevention of marine pollution by ships. On 1 January 2020, the agency began enforcing the IMO 2020 regulation of MARPOL Annex VI to minimise bunkering's environmental impact.

References

References

  1. (August 2011). "What is Bunker and Bunkering". Puthan House.
  2. MOHIT. (19 October 2010). "Bunkering is Dangerous : Procedure for Bunkering Operation on a Ship". Marine Insight.
  3. "Bunkering". Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
  4. "Page 143 - WOO 2014".
  5. (2024-01-15). "Port of Singapore Achieves Historic Bunker Sales in 2023".
  6. (22 March 2015). "Exposing underwater devastation".
  7. "Bunker Fuel Solutions for Marine Vessels {{!}} Dan-Bunkering".
  8. See the United States' [[Harter Act]]
  9. [[Marine Insurance Act 1906]]
  10. The [[Hague–Visby Rules]] Articles II & III
  11. ''Greenock Steamship Co v Marine Insurance'' [1903] 2 K.B. 657
  12. If the policy has a "held-covered" clause, the deviation will not allow immediate cancellation
  13. "Air Pollution". www.imo.org.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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