Digitalisation is part of the Rotterdam-Singapore Green & Digital Shipping Corridor efforts to reduce 20% to 30% of emissions from international shipping by 2030.

As part of the efforts, Marine Vessel Pass (MVP) by Bunkerchain will be used to trial the use of digital ship identities.

Currently, ships arriving at Singapore’s port rely on third-party collaborators to submit identification documents, creating potential operational and documentation issues due to a lack of real-time access to information.

MVP addresses this by providing up-to-date and validated ship information, including IMO numbers, registration details, and contact information. Ship operators can use the MVP app or website to present their digital credentials for port clearance and bunkering operations, which are verifiable in real time.

This digital process reduces manual checks, enhances efficiency, and minimises errors.

An industry agreement between S&P Global Market Intelligence and Bunkerchain was signed at the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2022, witnessed by Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore’s (MPA) Assistant Chief Executive (Operations), Captain M Segar, to commemorate Marine Vessel Pass, an Identity as a Service (IDaaS) that enables ship owners to create digital identities for ships. 

This could potentially enable vessels to replace wet ink ship stamps, paper documents and physical signatures that are still commonly used in the maritime industry today.

Bunkerchain ran a record-breaking trial with JPUT, Global Energies and Global Energy Trading using VesselConnect, to successfully coordinate a bunkering operation.

The ETR cross-border trade involved ExxonMobil Asia Pacific as the shipper, Bunkerchain as the TradeTrust-enabled digital platform provider and VLK as the vessel owner.

Bunkerchain provided its digital system for support of logistics documentation processes for the cross-border liquid chemical trade involving multiple parties, such as a surveyor and custom broker.

TradeTrust was used to enable the digitalisation of the issuance, ownership title transfer and surrender of the ETR as an electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) between the different stakeholders across different systems.

The overall process started with ExxonMobil shipping liquid chemicals from Singapore to Thailand, with VLK issuing an eBL using Bunkerchain. Marine Vessel Pass, a joint project between S&P Global Market Intelligence and Bunkerchain, created a ‘Digital Passports for Ships’ on the eBL to verify the digital identity used in the signing, which was tied to the vessel’s IMO number. The eBL was subsequently surrendered via the TradeTrust system.

France’s TotalEnergies Marine Fuels on Thursday (29 February) said it conducted its first digital bunker delivery for Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) in Singapore.

TotalEnergies adopted Bunkerchain’s eBDN system, Touch and Sail, and subsequently supplied fuel to a MOL-owned car carrier, Swallow Ace, on 2 February, successfully issuing an eBDN in the process.

The transaction was also successfully transmitted to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore through the digital bunkering platform.

The operation places TotalEnergies Marine Fuels among the first bunkering companies in the world to digitalise its fuelling operations.