The intelligent dispatching and control system allows for a more efficient bonded bunker oil supply at Zhoushan Port. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

Zhoushan Port has been making more efforts in recently years to improve the efficiency of its bonded bunker oil supply, local media reported on March 4.

In addition to streamlined customs clearance procedures, the management committee of the Zhoushan Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone established an intelligent dispatching and control system in 2019.

"It used to take about eight hours for us to apply for a bunker oil supply at Zhoushan Port," said Zhou Junbin, a worker at Ganghang Shipping Agency Co, who added that application information is required to be given to the shipping agency and oil supplier at the same time, but issues related to timing and inconsistent information were common.

Zhou added that the intelligent system has saved the company a lot of time and money, as the entire application procedure now takes only three minutes.

As long as the shipping agency uploads its bunker oil needs to the system, the supplier will be able to take the order with no issues, he noted.

Cui Yiling, director of the port affairs administration of the management committee, said that based on application information, a database for the bunker oil supply in Zhoushan will be formed and it can allocate the anchorage berths at Zhoushan Port more efficiently.

According to Cui, after several upgrades, the system can now handle the dynamic information of ships at port, manage and analyze collected data, and share data with other local port administrations, including maritime affair and customs.

Since the system was first introduced in 2019, it has guaranteed 3.26 million metric tons of bonded bunker oil supply and increased the utilization rate of anchorage berths at Zhoushan Port by 54.7 percent.