The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has invited methanol sellers to submit proposals for its use as a bunker fuel in the port of Singapore.
MPA issued the expression of interest (EOI) on 14 December, and aims to gather proposals for the implementation of end-to-end methanol bunkering solutions in Singapore from 2025. This is part of MPA's efforts to meet growing international bunkering needs, and will also support the MPA's development of a methanol bunkering licensing framework.
The EOI's focus is on three areas — methanol supply sources, the bunkering operation model at a commercial scale in Singapore, and alternatives to the physical transfer of methanol molecules to Singapore such as mass balancing.
This comes after a successful trial of what the MPA described as the world's first ship-to-containership methanol bunkering on 27 July in Singapore.
The EOI follows the rise in interest towards building methanol fueled vessels, with an estimated 165 methanol-fuelled ships in order books globally, according to global association Methanol Institute data. Maersk and MOL are among the list of companies looking at methanol-fuelled vessels in the coming years.
MPA is also studying methanol supplies, infrastructure requirements, bunkering standards, among others, to prepare the port of Singapore for methanol bunkering operations.
Methanol, B24 — which is a blend of used cooking oil methyl ester and very-low sulphur fuel oil — and LNG are among the main alternative marine fuels that are either being trialed or used for bunkering in Singapore at present.
