Americas News
Bunker Supply Operations Set to Recommence at Halifax
Months after Imperial Oil stopped supply of IFO bunker fuel at Halifax, the port has secured a new supplier of the product, Sterling Fuels Ltd. (Sterling Fuels) of Windsor, Ontario, Canadian newspaper the Chronicle Herald reports.
The deal with Sterling Fuels was the result of outreach by the port, according to George Malec, vice president of business development and operations at the Port of Halifax.
"Because heavy fuel oil is used by a number of the carriers and because the price for it is hundreds of dollars per tonne (less) between heavy fuel oil and other types of marine oil which these ships could also burn, it was going to add a lot of cost for certain vessel operators in the Port of Halifax," Malec said.
Imperial Oil, which is majority owned by ExxonMobil, stopped selling the fuel grade as it moves toward converting its Dartmouth refinery to a storage facility, with the supply of IFO bunkers ceasing in Halifax on August 15, 2013.
"Supply operations are set to recommence at Halifax next Friday, January 24, 2014," local player Hampton Bunkering told Ship & Bunker.
"We've spoken with the suppliers, and are pleased to now be taking enquiries for low sulfur 380, low sulfur 180, and LMGO going forwards."
Malec added: "Sterling will approach this as an actual commercial line of business, and they have a lot of experience in this."
"So I think you'll see them actually make this a more focused and marketed service offering in the Port of Halifax."
An Imperial Oil spokesman said in September that the Dartmouth facility's conversion will be a "multi-year process."
