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Bunkering is the supplying of fuel for use by ships (such fuel is referred to as bunker), including the logistics of loading and distributing the fuel among available shipboard tanks. A person dealing in trade of bunker (fuel) is called a bunker trader. The term bunkering originated in the days of steamships, when
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dead ...
was stored in bunkers. Nowadays, the term bunker is generally applied to the petroleum products stored in tanks, and bunkering to the practice and business of refueling ships. Bunkering operations take place at
seaports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
and include the storage and provision of the bunker (ship fuels) to vessels. Singapore is currently the largest bunkering port in the world.


Bunkering in maritime law

In many maritime contracts, such as charterparties, contracts for carriage of goods by sea, and marine insurance policies, the ship-owner or
ship operator In general, technical management is the systematic efforts used in the deployment of a system or process and in balancing its cost, effectiveness and supportability during its life cycle. Technical managers can be found at the interface of applic ...
is required to ensure that the ship is seaworthy. Seaworthiness requires not only that the ship be sound and properly crewed, but also that it be fully fuelled (or "bunkered") at the start of the voyage. If the ship operator wishes to bunker en route, this must be provided for in a written agreement, or the interruption of the voyage may be deemed to be deviation (a serious
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...
). If the vessel runs out of fuel in mid-ocean, this also constitutes serious breach, allowing the insurer to cancel a policy and allowing a consignee to make a cargo claim. It may also lead to a salvage operation. The International Maritime Organisation is an agency of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
responsible for the prevention of
marine pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The majori ...
by ships. On 1 January 2020, the agency began enforcing the IMO 2020 regulation of
MARPOL The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978, or "MARPOL 73/78" is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. MARPOL 73/78, MARPOL is an amalg ...
Annex VI to minimise bunkering's environmental impact.


"Bunkering" as theft

In countries such as Nigeria, "bunkering" also refers to the clandestine siphoning off or diverting of oil from pipelines and storage facilities. Such bunkering is often crudely carried out, causing both
accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researcher ...
s and pollution.


References

{{reflist Storage tanks Fuel containers