ANALYSIS: Singapore 2024 Bunker Sales Jump to Record High

The city-state's total conventional and biofuel demand reached 4.74 million mt in December. Image Credit: Ship & Bunker / Data Credit: MPA

Singapore, the world's largest bunkering hub, saw a record annual total for marine fuel sales in 2024 after a strong monthly gain in December.

The city-state's total conventional and biofuel demand reached 4.74 million mt in December, down by 6% on the year but up by 6.9% from November's level, according to the latest data from the Maritime and Port Authority.

Image Credit: Ship & Bunker / Data Credit: MPA

That left Singapore's conventional and biofuel total for 2024 at 54.48 million mt, up by 5.3% on the year and the highest on record.

Product Breakdown

VLSFO sales advanced by 1.3% on the month to 2.43 million mt in December, HSFO surged by 18.5% to 1.88 million mt, distillates slipped by 2.3% to 330,500 mt and biofuel blends sank by 7.8% to 106,500 mt.

HSFO's share of the total was 39.5%, up from 35.9% the same month a year earlier.

Separately, LNG bunker sales surged by 75.6% on the month to 48,300 mt in December, having dropped to a ten-month low in November, while no methanol sales were recorded.

Singapore has been including columns for biofuel blends, LNG and methanol sales since June 2023.

Bunker Calls Advance

The number of vessels calling at Singapore to bunker advanced on both a monthly and yearly basis in December.

A total of 3,543 vessels came to Singapore's waters to bunker last month, up by 7.5% from November's level, by 0.1% on the year and the most since July.

That left the average conventional and biofuel bunker stem size last month at about 1,338 mt, compared with an average over the previous 12 months of 1,312 mt.

Prices

Singapore's average VLSFO price in December was $551.50/mt, down by 3.8% from November's level and by 10.3% from the level seen a year earlier.

Ship & Bunker's G20-VLSFO Index of average prices across 20 leading bunkering ports lost 2.3% on the month and 9.2% on the year to $575/mt in December.

Bulker Visits Climb

Image Credit: Ship & Bunker / Data Credit: MPA

The total gross tonnage visiting Singapore rose by 1.9% on the year to 271.37 million mt in December.

This advance was led by the dry bulk segment, where calls by gross tonnage gained 3.6 million mt. Tankers rose by 723,000 mt, while boxship tonnage calls declined by 1.4 million mt.

The mandatory mass flow meter systems used to measure all bunker deliveries in Singapore come with a +/-0.5% margin of error, a level considered more accurate than traditional measurement systems used at most other ports with the added benefit of all but eliminated volumetric malpractice.

Only licensed companies can supply bunkers in Singapore, and the MPA calculates sales based on the bunker delivery notes of those companies.