According to MarineCircle News issued on December12th, the 57000 DWT bulk carrier YANGTZE BRIGHTNESS, registered in Marshall Islands has completed the comprehensive replenishment of ship materials including fuel oil, food and materials within 5 hours at the outer anchorage of Zhoushan. This is the first order of foreign ship supply to becompleted at the outer anchorage of Zhoushan, and it is also the first time that China has realized integrated maritime services for foreign ships at outer anchorage.

It is announced that an efficient integrated marine ship service area, which can be compared with OPL (outer port limit) anchorage in Singapore, has begun to form and will become the most competitive core resource of international maritime service base of China(Zhejiang) Pilot FreeTrade Zone.
　　
YANGTZE BRIGHTNESS owned by Chang Jiang village, is a Supramax bulk carrier, which is managed by the world's largest shipmanagement company－V.Ships' Shanghai office. The ship was loaded with 55500 tonnes of nickel ore and departed from Morowali port inIndonesia, passed through port of hualien in Taiwan, China, and came to the south anchorage of Xiazhimen in Zhoushan for replenishment, next port will sailto Rizhao Lanshan Port.
　　

AIS Trace of MV YANGTZE BRIGHTNESS（source: HiFleet）

Reasonablescheduling for efficient services

This time YANGTZE BRIGHTNESS bunkered 470 tons of Low Sulfur (LS) 380 and supplied worthof more than 40000 RMB’s food and materials in Zhoushan. It took only 5 hoursfor the foreign ship to arrive at the designated anchorage and complete allservices, only 8.5 hours for the foreign ship to stay in Zhoushan.

At 11:30, YANGTZE BRIGHTNESS arrived and anchored atthe the area near outer anchorage in Zhoushan - the South Anchorage of Xiazhimen;

At 13:30, the foreign ship moved to the designatedanchorage position in accordance with the requirements of maritime VTS andbegan to work;

At 13:40 ‘Andashui 6’, the material supply ship,leans on the port side of the foreign ship;

At 14:40all 8 pallets of materials including food and materials were hoisted onto the ship;
　　

At 15:00, the oil supply barge ‘Zhou bunker 8’ leanson the foreign ship;


At 18:30, the oil supply ship completed bunkering andleft;

At 20:00, the foreign ship departured the port.

Wang Xin,deputy director of Zhoushan international maritime service base construction headquarters office, said, ‘the first order task headquarters for the supply of outer anchorage has received strong support from relevant departments, such as Zhoushan Port and Shipping Administration Bureau,Zhoushan Customs, Zhoushan Maritime Safety Administration, Zhoushan BorderInspection and Zhoushan Port Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee, etc. A special working group has been set up, membersare included such as Ocean Favor Shipping Agency CO., ltd (Zhoushan), Sinopec，CHIMBUSCO, RMS Marine Service Company Ltd., Zhoushan Port First Shipping Supply Co., Ltd., Zhoushan Haitong Port Service Co., Ltd.，Putuo Taimao Logistics Center and MarineCircle, etc.

Zhoushan international maritime service base construction head quarters together with Zhoushan Port and Shipping Administration Bureau conducted unified dispatching, exchanged information, and coordinated with tasks to advance the mission smoothly. ’As a member of the working group, MarineCircle calculated the remaining voyage distances and estimated arrival time of the foreign ship timely through its own shipping voyage estimation tool－PortDistance, which provided technical support for mastering the latest AIS of the foreign ship and designing the reasonable distribution scheme in advance.’
　　
Multiple policies to solve the problem of shortage of anchorages

How quickly the first order for the supply of the foreign ship had been completed also benefits from a series of policies and measures for the shortage of bondedfuel oil supply at anchorage issued by China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zonein the early stage. With the promotion of boned fuel oil bunkering center in Northeast Asia, the advantages of Zhoushan boned fuel oil are increasingly manifested.

In 2018, the total supply of Zhoushan bonded marine fuel oil reached 3.593 milliontons, making it be the tenth largest fueling port in the world. However, theshortage of bunkering anchorages is becoming more and more serious. Frequently,there are a large number of ‘unprecedentedly grand occasions’ for foreign shipsto line up to bunker at seas outside the outer anchorages.

Since November, Zhoushan government has coordinated with various departments andissued a series of policies to alleviate this contradiction. Nowadays, thereare 17 anchorages to supply bonded fuel oil for the foreign ship simultaneously and even if the outer anchorage is available for operation, the foreign shipwill be charged half of the pilotage fee for entering the inner anchorage-Mazhianchorage for bunkering.

If the outer anchorage is inoperable due to strong wind and waves, the bunkering pilotagefee for entering the anchorage by the foreign ship is free. After a series oftargeted measures, the shortage of Zhoushan bonded fuel supply anchorages has been significantly reduced, which is also an important reason why YANGTZEBRIGHTNESS can enter the bunkering anchor position without waiting.
　　

Zhoushan Bunker Supplu Intelligent Dispatching System (developed by MarineCircle)

Zhoushananchorage is expected to become the most efficient Marine vessel service area

The international maritime services of Zhoushan Anchorage are tailor-made for theforeign ships passing by Zhoushan. Different from the service at the inner anchorage, the service at the outer anchorage is not only closer to the international waterway, but also does not require pilotage, free of port fees,free of tonnage tax, etc. It is actually equivalent to Singapore's OPL (OuterPort Limit) anchorage service, which can provide ships bunkering,replenishment, and crew changes facilitate operations. However, Singapore ’s OPL has actually survived, and the dispute over territorial waters betweenneighboring countries－Malaysia and Indonesia has become increasingly prominent. The two OPL anchorages originally recognized by Singapore have not allowed the ship to anchor. If the ship is anchored in theterritorial waters of the two countries without permission, it will face riskssuch as fines and detention.

There are abundant resources in Zhoushan outer anchorage. The area of outer anchorages that can be developed and utilized in the future is vast. Therefore,the Zhoushan Outer Anchorage Area is expected to be comparable to Singapore OPLand become one of the most efficient integrated marine ship service areas inthe world.

ShenYibin, deputy director of Zhoushan international maritime service base construction headquarters office, told reporters figuratively, ‘the services tobe provided by Zhoushan's outer anchorage include the supply of fuel oil,lubricating oil, food, materials and spare parts, as well as the comprehensive services such as crew’s relief, maritime inspection and ship repair. Just likethe service area on the highway, it not only provides cars with fuel up service,but also a series of services such as catering, shopping, leisure, and car repairs.’

ShenYibin, deputy director of Zhoushan international maritime service base construction headquarters office, told reporters figuratively, ‘the services tobe provided by Zhoushan's outer anchorage include the supply of fuel oil,lubricating oil, food, materials and spare parts, as well as the comprehensive services such as crew’s relief, maritime inspection and ship repair. Just likethe service area on the highway, it not only provides cars with fuel up service,but also a series of services such as catering, shopping, leisure, and car repairs.’

With theformal implementation of IMO 0.50% Global Sulphur cap to come into force fromJanuary 1st, 2020, the advantages of Zhoushan's bonded marine fuel oil will bemore obvious. According to data from S&P Platts Global Analytic, recently,Zhoushan's VLSFO (very low sulfur fuel oil) ‘s price is cheaper than Singapore's. In line with the data research of MarineCircle, in 2018, there were 107,000 international ships passed through Zhoushan sea area. Therefore,with the rapid development of Zhoushan international maritime service base, itcan be predicted that the outer anchorage of Zhoushan will successfully copySingapore's OPL and become a busy and efficient international maritime service anchorage.

Source: MarineCircle News