October 24, 2016 [Platts] - Marine fuel sales at Rotterdam, the world's third largest bunkering port, sank by 9.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the port authority said Friday.
Total sales dropped to 2.42 million cu m in Q3 from 2.67 million cu m a year earlier. Fuel oil sales slipped by 8.6% to 2.02 million cu m, while marine gasoil and marine diesel oil sales dropped by 14.9% to 378,201 cu m.
Marine lubricant sales jumped by 20.7% to 24,176 cu m.
Bunker demand worldwide has been depressed in recent years as shipowners pursue improved fuel efficiency with slow steaming, new hull designs and vessel sharing deals. But the data has shown a persistent trend for European demand to underperform the rest of the world, in part because of weaker regional growth but also as European regulators impose stricter environmental controls than lawmakers in Asia-Pacific.
In Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering hub, Q3 bunker sales rose by 2.1% to 12.17 million mt. While Rotterdam’s bunker sales had dropped by 13% from their 2011 peak by the end of 2015, Singapore’s volumes rose by 4.6% over the same period.
