Rotterdam bunker fuel sales drop

Bunker fuel sales at the port of Rotterdam dropped in the final quarter of last year as demand for shipping fell.

Official port data show total sales of conventional bunker fuels and biofuel blend marine fuels declined by 11pc on the quarter and by 26pc on the year to just under 2.1mn t in October-December.

Conventional bunker fuel demand dropped across all products. Sales of very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) were down by 15pc from the previous quarter and by 31pc from the same period of 2022. High-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) sales followed a similar trend. Marine gasoil (MGO) demand was also down on the quarter and on the year, although its share of total bunker sales ticked up by 2 percentage points compared with the previous quarter while fuel oil's share slumped by 3 percentage points over the same period.

Market participants reported lacklustre VLSFO demand in northwest Europe in the final quarter of last year, while HSFO supply in the region has been constrained since the EU banned imports of Russian oil products almost a year ago.

Sales of marine biofuel blends bucked the trend at Rotterdam, rising by 27pc in last year's fourth quarter compared with the previous three months. Demand was still 14pc lower than in the fourth quarter of 2022 but biofuel blends' share of total sales rose to 11pc, the largest since Rotterdam started publishing biofuel blend figures. Market participants said buyers are gearing up for the inclusion of shipping in the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).

LNG bunker sales at Rotterdam dropped by 27pc in October-December compared with the previous quarter but were 154pc higher than in the fourth quarter of 2022, boosted by lower LNG prices than a year earlier. Biomethanol sales doubled quarter-on-quarter.

By Hussein Al-Khalisy

Rotterdam bunker fuels market share