A blockchain and DNA-based marine fuels tracking solution has been commercially launched last Friday following a successful trial conducted in the Netherlands in early October.
Named BunkerTrace, the blockchain and DNA-based fuels tracking solution adds DNA markers to fuel at every stage of the supply chain and records each transaction in a blockchain-based system. The solution is ready for adoption by bunker suppliers, ports and operators.
BunkerTrace is a joint venture of Forecast Technology and BLOC (Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration).
“As IMO 2020 approaches, we’re seeing fundamental changes to the dynamics of the bunkering market, which in turn creates uncertainty and risk: risk for owners, charterers, credit providers and financiers in the fuels they buy or fund; risk for insurers in establishing the risks they must manage; risk for operators and the fuels they burn; and for enforcers policing the fuels market. That’s why BunkerTrace exists,” commented Marc Johnson, ceo of BunkerTrace.
By combining blockchain and DNA-based tagging, BunkerTrace creates an immutable audit trail, which follows the fuel and any changes made to it. It also records all activities and sign-offs during fuel transacting.
BunkerTrace provides evidence of compliance with IMO 2020 and ensures that at every point in the supply chain, it is easy for stakeholders to check if the fuel they are moving, loading, buying or selling is the product that it is meant to be, even if fuel has been blended or mixed.
In the recent trial, a Boskalis-owned dredger, Prins der Nederlanden was bunkered with 900 cubic meters of 0.1% sulphur compliant fuel supplied by Minerva with a unique tracer added. The crew then successfully detected this mark with an onboard analysis case that took less than one minute, with the result of the test logged in a blockchain- based transaction record.
“With the product portfolio in the marine energy market becoming increasingly complex and diverse in the near future our focus is on expertise and continuously developing of member protection tools and this is why we fully support the BunkerTrace initiative,” said Harry Vasse, general director at Cooperative Bebeka, the partner of BunkerTrace during the trial.
Posted 22 October 2019
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