Last Friday a cargo ship and a barge have collided in Houston channel. Currently the USCG is investigating the cause of the collision between the cargo ship Genius Star VII and a barge loaded with 840,000 gallons of fuel oil in the Houston Ship Channel.
During the opening ceremony of this year’s SIBCON in Singapore, Minister Lui announced the introduction of an information sheet on licensed bunker suppliers and an industry guide for the use of mass flow metering system. Minister Lui said that MPA will publish an information sheet on licensed bunker suppliers in the Port of Singapore in its efforts to allow shipowners to make more informed decisions in appointing bunker suppliers. Minister Lui also shared that MPA has developed an industry guide for the use of mass flow metering system.
Recently the west of England P&I released a Loss Prevention Bulletin on the “Cappuccino Effect” due to a recent bunker dispute involving a vessel and a bunker supplier. The vessel, a bulk carrier, arrived in Singapore and began to bunker 900 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil. The crew was alerted to the fact that something was wrong by the rattling of the float valves situated inside the fuel tank vent head bonnets. It was found that air was escaping from the vents at a greater rate than would normally be expected. In addition, the bunker supply hose lying on deck was seen to be jerking violently.
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Officer of the Watch 