Bunkering operations have been halted by high winds at several Mediterranean ports.
Las Palmas has been closed for the past three days, with operations forecast to resume at the weekend. This adds pressure on already-tight bunker barging schedules and pushes several suppliers' earliest delivery dates to 3-4 January — after the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) 0.5pc sulphur cap enters into force.
This could mean that any vessels that have not yet bunkered compliant fuels, and which do not have exhaust scrubbers fitted, will struggle to bunker low-sulphur fuels before the new year.
Bunker operations were halted at Gibraltar and Algeciras yesterday. Operations are forecast to start up slowly again in Gibraltar on 22 December, with a reduced number of vessels bunkering, and be back to normal on 23 December. Up to 20 vessels are queuing Gibraltar and suppliers quote 2-3 January as the earliest delivery date.
Bunker operations have been suspended in Malta. Operations there resumed yesterday, but bunker barges are limited. Bad weather also halted supply across most of Malta's bunkering locations last week.
The closures have added upward pressure on prices across the Mediterranean region, but it is the tight 0.5pc sulphur fuel oil cargo market that has had the most affect according to suppliers in Gibraltar and Las Palmas.
Scarce supply of 0.5pc sulphur marine fuel oil in the region likely drove shipments from northwest Europe this week. Bunker supplier Peninsula Petroleum provisionally booked the FSL Perth to load 100,000t of 0.5pc fuel oil in the Danish port of Kalundborg on 26 December, for an unspecified destination in the Mediterranean region.
By Erik Hoffmann and George Henry
