Living and working with COVID-19

IBIA Asia continues work on ambitious plans for 2021 to meet industry needs

As I write this, Singapore is experiencing its 2^nd wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, caused mainly by the new strain first identified in India. It has caused widespread cases in the community. The Singapore Government implemented a Heightened Alert, similar to a lockdown, with effect from 16 May to 13 June 2021. As a result, the IBIA Asia office has had to close to visitors for a while and postpone all scheduled physical classroom training at the IBIA Asia premises, but we are ensuring that all affected registered trainees are updated and informed. We look forward to welcoming visitors and trainees back when circumstances allow.

Events and potential new IBIA Asia courses

At the time of writing we are preparing the first IBIA Asia Webinar entitled “Bunkering Innovation: Digitalisation and its Legal Landscape”, scheduled to run on 22 June 2021.

We are also looking at two new potential courses:

LNG Bunkering course. IBIA Asia will work with Singapore Metrology Organisation on this.
TR 80:2020 – Technical Reference on meter verification using the master mass flow meter. IBIA Asia is currently working with a reputable specialist to deliver this course.

We are targeting to have the details ready in time to roll both these courses out in Q3 or Q4 2021.

Partnership projects

IBIA Asia is working on a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration for close project collaboration, and target to roll this out in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021.

Technical Committee participation

IBIA Asia is sitting on both the Bunkering and the LNG Bunkering technical committees of the Singapore Chemical Industry Council, where the aim is to drive and be part of the Singapore Standards for Bunkering for conventional fossil fuels and alternative fuels like LNG.

Currently, we are reviewing the SS 600- Singapore Standard Code of Practice for Bunkering and the SS 524- Singapore Standard Specification for Quality Management for Bunker Supply Chain (QMBS). The target is for both to be completed by Q4, 2021.

Current Training Programme

The IBIA Asia office offers mandatory training for the bunker sector in Singapore with courses that have been approved and certified by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). They are:

Singapore Standard SS648:2019 – 1 Day Training for currently approved Bunker Surveyors and Cargo Officers. In 2020, we conducted the training for 90% of certified cargo officers and bunker surveyors.
Singapore Standard SS 600:2014+ SS648:2019 – 2 Days Advanced Training for new Bunker Surveyors and Cargo Officers.

Courses were approved by MPA in May 2020 on the Maritime Cluster Fund grant of up to 90%, up from 70% earlier, for eligible trainees on courses taken between 1 May 2020 and 31 December 2020. The enhanced co-funding support under the MaritimeSG Together Package has been extended to 30 June 2021. After that, 90% funding support for MPA pre-approved mandatory bunkering course reverts to 70%.

The IBIA Asia office also offers specialised training for the bunker sector in Singapore with our MPA-approved course, Understanding Marine Fuel. Two successful live on line-courses taught by IBIA Asia Regional Manager Alex Tang were completed in October and November 2020. IBIA Asia is planning to hold this course in July and November 2021.

MPA has approved a Maritime Cluster Fund grant of up to 50% for eligible trainees for this course.

Interested parties are encouraged to contact Noraini noraini@ibia.net or Alex Tang regionalmanagerasia@ibia.net.

Alex Tang, CMarSci MIMarEST

Regional Manager: Asia

M +65 88766491

E regionalmanagerasia@ibia.net

W www.ibia.net