Asia/Pacific News
Singapore June Bunker Sales Fall From Record High
Singapore bunker sales in June were 3,646,900 metric tonnes (mt) for all products, down 8.5% on last month's all time record high of 3,985,700 mt, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) data has shown.
The drop ended three consecutive months of rising volumes of product sold in the world's largest bunkering port, but June sales still bested February 2012 (3.093 million mt) and March 2012 (3.609 million mt) sales, and were even slightly higher than the at-the-time all time record of 3.642 million mt set just 18 months ago in January 2011.
The average sales per month so far for 2012 rises to 3.623 million mt, up from 3.618 million mt for the first five months of 2012, and still marginally above 2011's average for the year, and current record, of 3.596 million mt.
Sales for 500 cSt fell for the first time this year, dropping 6.41% to 553,600 mt, but sales for the grade are still up 36% for the year.
A significant drop was seen in the June sales of 180 cSt product, falling month-on-month some 27% to 86,600 mt, correcting the jump of 13.5% to 117,500 mt seen last month.
The drop in bunker sales was accompanied by a drop in vessel arrivals which slipped 3.8% in June to 10,790, while bunker-only calls fell 6.9% to 3,122 - the lowest number since February's 2,980.
In 2011 Singapore sold slightly more bunkers in the second half of the year (21.99 million mt) than the first (21.16 million mt).
If that is repeated this year, and with projected sales for 2012 of 43.476 million mt based on the current monthly average of 3.623 million mt, 2012 remains on track to be a record breaking year for the port and to topple last year's record of 43.153 million mt.
