EMEA News
Fujairah: Aegean Seeing Strong Demand, Expecting Significantly Higher Volumes, Better Margins
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE: ANW] (Aegean) is seeing "very strong" demand in Fujairah, and going forwards expects to record significantly higher volumes with a better gross spread, the company announced during this week's second quarter earning call.
"The demand in Fujairah right now is very strong. The port is quite congested. They are opening up an additional two loading points, one is being done in the current quarter and the other one early next year," said Aegean President E. Nikolas Tavlarios.
"As that happens, we expect the volumes in Fujairah to ramp up significantly, our sales to increase there, and we will be able to use [Aegean's Fujairah terminal] in a way that we can capture greater profit margin.
"The blender margin from engaging in blending is somewhere between $5 and $10 a tonne on every tonne that’s done from blended fuel. So as we begin to overlay that into our product mix there, we would expect our performance in that port to further improve."
Aegean also reported "strong efficiency levels" at its storage facility, which it says is now operating at about 86 percent capacity, and remained on track for a 100 percent lease rate by the end of 2015.
Earlier this week Ship & Bunker reported that Aegean's Q2 bunker sales volume jumped 18.5 percent year-on-year to 3,150,950 metric tonnes (mt), but it's share price tumbled as earnings missed analyst estimates.
