Recorded and published statistics on bunker sales volumes for every bunkering port worldwide would be a welcome source of knowledge for industry players, a poll has shown.

A Bunkerworld poll in November asked whether all ports should publish
their bunker sales volumes.? Results show that 84% of respondents
wanted every bunkering port to publish its bunker sales volumes while
only 4% voted ‘no’.

”Clear statistics about the bunker sales volumes in each port could
give a much better idea about the total demand for bunkers worldwide
and better planning for the suppliers and buyers worldwide in terms of
consolidation and expansion,” said Marco Tritto, residuals and
feedstocks manager for Petrobras Singapore Pte Ltd.

At present, only the Asian port of Singapore and the European ports of
Rotterdam and Gibraltar regularly publish official statistics of their
bunker sales volumes, compiled by their respective port authorities.

In 2008, Singapore sold 34.9 million mt and Rotterdam moved 13 million mt.

The Port of Fujairah reveals an estimated annual whole number for
bunker sales at Fujairah, one of the top three bunkering ports in the
world.

There are more than 220 ports globally that offer ships re-fueling services.

Despite Singapore and Rotterdam being two of the world’s biggest
bunkering ports, sales volumes from them constitute only between 10-20%
of the global sales figure, depending on which estimates are being used.

”I see many numbers so far about this quantity going from 150 million metric tonnes (mt) to 250 million mt,” Tritto said.

Among the figures published in 2007 was one from BP putting annual
global demand at 200 million mt while the Institute of Physics and
Atmosphere put global demand at 280 million mt.

Global bunker consumption is typically extrapolated from secondary
evidence, such as the size of the world fleet.? Figures based on the
theoretical requirement of the world fleet are accepted as being higher
than those based on suppliers’ estimates of their market share.

In early 2008, Robin Meech of Marine and Energy Consulting estimated
annual bunker sales at some 300 million mt, while INTERTANKO claimed
the yearly bunker consumption was approaching 400 million mt.

Oil refiners constantly have to pre-determine their cracking
operations, which require massive investment spending, and demand for
residual fuel from the shipping industry becomes crucial information to
their business planning.

Bunker suppliers and buyers can also tweak and develop their operations
and requirements according to the movement of the sales figures.

Aside from the energy and shipping markets, regulatory concerns would
also benefit from consistently published bunker sales volumes at every
port.

Proposed market-based mechanisms such as a bunker levy or a carbon
emissions trading scheme would benefit from having verifiable data to
back-up transparency and accuracy of calculations.

Source: PortWorld

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