The annual bunker oil supply in Zhoushan exceeds 4.72 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 45 percent. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province has carried out digitization reform to ensure efficient bunker oil supply in recent years, local media reported on June 16.

Statistics show that the annual bunker oil supply in the city has exceeded 4.72 million metric tons, a year-on-year increase of 45 percent.

In 2019, Zhoushan launched a dispatching system of bonded bunker oil to make up for the city's shortages in resources like anchorages, storage, and barges, as well as to ensure efficient connection between different processes during oil supply.

"Without the system, we could only get the usage information about the anchorage position on site by telephone. There was often a large gap between the ship's arrival and the refueling time for ships. Now, with this system, the accuracy and refueling efficiency has greatly improved," said Wang Ting, manager of Zhoushan Haihui Yizhou Shipping Agency Co Ltd.

Applications for the use of anchorages can also be made on the system, freeing applicants from going between different government departments and saving them more than eight hours in processing time.

The system is also installed with remote video surveillance and quality flowmeter systems to reduce the waiting time of international ships for refueling by more than 12 hours.

The dispatching system has guaranteed the 3.6 million-ton bunker oil supply for 4,920 ships and increased the usage rate of anchorages by 54.7 percent.

The updated dispatching system is under construction and the new system will cover shipowners, oil storage companies, as well as fuel supply agencies. It will also collect more data involving shipyards and wharfs.