Bunker sales in Singapore, the world's largest marine fuels hub, saw an unexpected jump in March, apparently shrugging off the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic so far.
Total sales rose to 4.332 million mt last month, according to preliminary data from Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority, up by 11.41% from February and by 5.66% from March 2019.
The gain may come as a shock to the bunker industry, as March saw some of the heaviest impact of the virus on shipping.
But crude prices also collapsed in March with the falling-out in the OPEC+ coalition, and this may have prompted some shipowners to buy more bunkers than they would have otherwise.
Calls at the port for bunkering surged by 7.14% from a year earlier to 3,557 ships, meaning the average stem size slipped by about 17 mt on the year to about 1,215 mt.
Very low sulfur fuel oil and 0.5% sulfur gasoil and diesel sales climbed by 9.17% from February's levels to 3.055 million mt in March, while high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) sales advanced by 19.12% to 738,400 mt.
Sales of 0.1% sulfur gasoil and ultra low sulfur fuel oil gained 5.52% on the month to 485,400 mt, the MPA said.
