Gasoil and diesel differentials firmed on Thursday as cold weather continued to bite in northwest Europe, but ice in canals and rivers has pushed gasoil stocks higher in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub. 

Traders and brokers reported that end-consumer demand still seemed sluggish, but the icing over of canals and rivers is alsohindering vessels.

“It is still -5 degrees during the day so most channels are closed,” said a middle distillates broker based in Germany. “There is real trouble with the shipping.”

Hungary has also halted shipping on the Danube because of abuild up of ice.

Industry monitor Euroilstocks said European middle distillate inventories dipped by 1.9 percent in January month-on-month after freezing temperatures gripped the region late in the month.

The colder weather raised hopes of a good February and a stronger March in terms of consumer demand for heating oil, but there are still plenty of unplaced cargoes, a trader said.

“It is clear there is not much ullage around in addition to weak prompt demand,” he added. Ullage is the distance between the top of the product and the top of the storage tank, which means tanks are still quite full.

“Heavy barge congestions are taking away the demand,” a diesel barge trader said. “There is probably more demand on gasoil but there is not much on diesel.”

Despite this mixed picture, a couple of 60,000 tonne diesel cargoes are thought to have been fixed to travel from the UnitedStates to Europe.

This is against a backdrop of rising distillate stock piles in the United States and falling demand.

“Unless the upcoming winter heating season starts to get much colder, the current level of exports will likely continue especially with the cold spell in Europe,” said Dominick Chirichella of the Energy Management Institute in the U.S.

A middle distillates trader added that the Russian export programme remained strong, particularly for products coming out of Primorsk, the largest Russia port on the Baltic.

“There is still a steady amount of vessels being fixed. Charterers say there are no problems fixing vessels as far as a few weeks out, despite the ice,” he said.