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Published by Mohit in Guidelines On April 26, 2017

Bunkering is
Dangerous :
Procedure for
Bunkering Operation
on a Ship

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Bunkering is one process on ship which has been the reason

for several accidents in the past. Bunkering on ship can be of
fuel oil, sludge, diesel oil, cargo etc. Bunkering of fuel or
diesel oil requires utmost care and alertness to prevent any
kind of re accident or oil spill.

In this article we will learn about the bunkering procedure on

into consideration while bunkering.

Bunkering Procedure

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Before Bunkering
1. The chief engineer should calculate and check which
bunker/fuel oil tanks are to be lled after he receives
conrmation from the shore ofce about the amount of fuel
oil from one tank to other. This is required so as to prevent
mixing of two oils and prevent incompatibility between the
previous oil and the new oil.

3. A meeting should be held between the members that will

take part in the bunkering process and they should be
explained about the following:-

Which tanks are to be lled.

Sequence order of tanks to be lled.
How much bunker is to be taken.
Emergency procedure in case oil spill occurs.
Responsibilities of each ofcer are explained.

4. Sounding is taken before bunkering and record is made.

5. A checklist is to be lled so that nothing is missed on.

6. All deck scuppers and save all trays are plugged.

7. Overow tank is checked to be empty.

8. Adequate lighting at bunker and sounding position is to be

provided.

9. No smoking notice should be positioned.

10. On board communication between the people involved in

bunkering is made.

11. Red ag/light is presented on masthead.

blanked properly.

13. Vessel draught and trim is recorded before bunkering.

14. All equipments in SOPEP(shipboard oil pollution

emergency plan) locker are checked to be in place.

15. When barge is secured to the ship side, the persons

involved on barge are also explained about the bunker plan.

16. Barge paperwork is checked for the oils grade and the
density if they are as per the specication.

17. The pumping rate of bunker is agreed with the barge.

18. The hose is then connected to the manifold.

19. All the valves required are open and checked.

20. Proper communication between the barge and the ship is

to be established.

21. Sign and signals are to be followed as discussed in case of

communication during emergency.

22. After this, the manifold valve is open for bunkering.

During Bunkering
1. During start of the bunker the pumping rate is kept low,
this is done so as to check that the oil is coming to the tank
to which the valve is opened.
pumping rate is increased as agreed before.

3. Generally only one tank lling is preferred because

gauging of more than one tank at a time increases the
chances of overow.

4. The max allowable to which tank is lled is 90 % and when

the tank level reaches about to maximum level the barge is
told to pump at low pumping rate so as to top up the tank,
and then the valve of other tank is opened.

5. During bunkering, sounding is taken regularly and the

frequency of sounding is more when the tank is near to full.
Many vessels have tank gauges which show tank level in
control room but this is only to be relied if the system is
working properly.

6. The temperature of bunker is also to be checked; generally

the barge or supplier will provide the bunker temperature.
Temperature above this may lead to shortfall in bunker.

7. A continuous sample is taken during bunkering with the

help of sampling cock at the manifold.

After Bunkering
sts (1)

1. Draught and trim of the ship is checked.

2. Take sounding of all the tanks bunkered.

3. The volume bunkered should be corrected for trim, heel

and temperature correction.

4. In general for each degree of increase in temperature the

density should be reduced by 0.64 kg/m3.

5. Four samples are taken during bunkering. One is kept

IMO. One sample is given to barge.

6. The chief engineer will sign the bunker receipt and the
amount of bunker received.

7. If there is any shortfall of bunker received the chief

engineer can issue a note of protest against the
barge/supplier.

8. After everything is settled the hose connection is removed.

9. The sample is sent for laboratory analysis.

10. The new bunker should not be used until the report from
the lab.

Report an Error

Next Read: Boiler Operation Made Easy : Procedure for Starting and Stopping
a Boiler

bunkering oil spill precautions procedure sounding

Mohit: Mohit Kaushik is a marine engineer sailing with

Maersk Shipping. He handles website development and
technical support at Marine Insight. Apart from handling
web development projects, he also manages a logistics
company and have a keen interest in modern logistic technologies .
great .....

Nicklas says: February 9, 2011 at 8:20 pm

Don't know if this is the right forum but I'll give it a try.

Any opinion on using Dynamic Positioning instead of mooring lines

during bunkering operations?

mig25 says: February 16, 2011 at 10:32 pm

I think it will be wise to check the soundings in the barge tanks. It

might be helpful in case of dispute.
Another interesting issue to discuss is about the tricks suppliers can try
on us. Sometimes they are quite motivated to do that.

666shadow666 says: July 14, 2011 at 2:49 am

hmm mostly bunkering operations have difference this is connected

with direct place were bunkering was done, africa is one case europe is
enother, we never should forget that supplier almost always
chittering)))

virendra says: December 16, 2011 at 2:08 pm

useful info.

uno greebpeace says: December 17, 2011 at 10:23 pm

it is a dangerous job...

EL MAZOUNI Fouzia says: April 17, 2012 at 3:02 pm

I've just subscibed to your site because i found it very intersting and
hopeful.

Anish says: April 21, 2012 at 5:46 pm

Thank You EL Mazouni.

krish kumar says: April 14, 2014 at 6:20 pm

nice explaination very helfull sir thank u so much..

Satyakam abhishek says: June 3, 2014 at 6:42 am

Nice sir g, your thinking is good.

I hope u will sure sucess.
Thanks

Yasir Elfadil says: June 29, 2014 at 5:32 pm

Good Day
Thanks for this information but I hope to inform us about safety during
bunker.

Anish says: July 1, 2014 at 12:16 pm

Dear Yasir, Do check the following link for more information on

bunkering: http://goo.gl/rKPD1a

Praveen Prasad says: October 19, 2014 at 4:00 pm

thanks. I really thankful to you

Nkosi Vuke says: March 30, 2016 at 5:28 pm

racid rajahbuayan says: August 13, 2016 at 1:03 pm

can you explain to me what is topping up during bunkering?

Anish says: September 7, 2016 at 11:49 am

@Racid: Topping up is actually the rate at which the fuel is

supplied to the ship. Since the tank is about to reach the required
sounding, the topping up rate is reduce to avoid any oil spill/ blow
from the sounding pipe or tank vent

Rafaek says: October 5, 2016 at 8:08 am

Can you explain to me why high temperature will result to shortfall

Sergii says: August 21, 2017 at 10:26 am

On wich dokument can I refer to the maximum of FO intake 90%? If i

have order to get 96%.

Anish says: August 21, 2017 at 1:32 pm

@Sergii.

90% is a just to mention the safest limit to avoid any spill due to
list/trim of the ship or air blow from bunker barge. You can receive
up to 98% of the fuel if the operation is properly monitored. For
more guidelines on the bunker, please check RESOLUTION
MEPC.122(52)

LE AV E A C O M M E N T
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