February 27, 2021 [Manifold Times] – The Zhoushan Bonded Marine Fuel Association on Wednesday (24 February) said a new anchorage and storage terminal has been added in the northern port area at Zhoushan to reduce pressure on bunker supply in southern anchorages as demand for bunker fuel continues to increase.

The Zhoushan Bonded Marine Fuel Association on Wednesday (24 February) said a new anchorage and storage terminal has been added in the northern port area at Zhoushan to reduce pressure on bunker supply in southern anchorages as demand for bunker fuel continues to increase.

In 2020, Zhoushan Port supplied 4.724 million metric tonnes (mt) of bunker fuel and as operations increase it was necessary to construct a new anchorage to supply fuel to the south as well as to expand the service area of the port as the average waiting time at the southern Xiazhimen anchorage was 18 hours.

The newly opened northern Qushan anchorage commenced its services in mid-January this year, and so far, it has supplied up to 7,380 mt of bunker fuel to four large (200,000 to 300,000 dwt) tankers and bulk carriers.

Similar to the Xiazhimen Anchorage, the Qushan anchorage is exempt from tonnage tax and pilotage fees and its deep waters make it suitable for large and medium bulk carriers and oil tankers with large tonnage even during drought.

Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is also available as a bunker fuel at the Qushan anchorage.

To support operations and larger volumes, the Huangzeshan Bonded Oil Storage and Transportation Terminal is located 8 nautical miles north of the Qushan anchorage.

The terminal currently has 630,000 cubic meters of bonded storage capacity and a 100,000 cbm export supervision warehouse, and each reservoir area is also equipped with two 10,000-ton wharfs.

It is currently utilised for importing crude oil, fuel oil, exporting fuel oil from local refineries, and since 10 February, it is also a service point to supply bunker fuel.

Qualified fuel suppliers can use the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone Customs Supervision Innovation Measures to utilise the same tank for bunker fuel allocation or for direct bunker supply businesses.

It is estimated that more than 45,000 international sailing pass through the northern waters of Zhoushan every year, accounting for about 42% of traffic in the entire Zhoushan area, and most of the vessels are high-service value ships such as container ships and large bulk carriers.

Zhoushan is also connected to the northern Yangtze River Estuary, the world’s second largest ship-delivery destination, which houses more than 50,000 international vessels every year.

The Zhoushan Bonded Marine Fuel Association concluded that the anchorage’s strategic location between the Xiazhimen anchorage and Shanghai Yangshan port would increase the port’s competitiveness in the bunkering business.

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