Atlantic coast fuel suppliers brace for Florence

Fuel suppliers in the Carolinas and Virginia prepared supplies and infrastructure as Hurricane Florence developed into a major hurricane this morning.

Retail locations remained well supplied but an early emergency declaration late last week as the storm approached North Carolina had spurred some increased demand as the storm approached, trade associations said.

"Everybody is battening down here pretty early on this thing because all of the models continue to predict that it is going to come in right over the top of us," said Gary Harris, executive director of the North Carolina Petroleum & Convenience Marketers Association. "All of us are praying that it is going to turn out to sea, but it looks less and less likely that that will happen."

The storm's wind speeds reached 115 mph this morning as it churned toward the Atlantic coast, making Hurricane Florence a category 3 storm, according to the National Weather Service. The hurricane was forecast to reach category 4, with winds of more than 130 mph, before making landfall. The storm was southeast of Bermuda moving west and expected to make landfall on the North Carolina coast overnight on 13 September.

An emergency declaration late 7 September had spurred some increased buying yesterday and supply tightness at some stores, but the state was generally well supplied, Harris said.

Fuel distributors were more concerned about rainfall totals than winds as the storm approached. Companies in North Carolina were filling tanks to ensure above and below-ground storage had enough fuel to keep from floating away, Harris said. Virginia retailers awaited emergency declarations easing hour of service regulations, the state's convenience association said.

Colonial Pipeline and Plantation, the two largest sources of fuel for the region, reported normal operations with some storm preparation underway. The US Coast Guard began restricting traffic today at 8am ET at South Carolina ports, including Charleston. Ports remained open to commercial traffic but larger vessels must plan to leave.