Preparations for 2020 Demand to Be Driven by Bunker Suppliers, Says Port of Gibraltar

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday April 10, 2017

While the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) intends to work closely with the bunker community to prepare for the upcoming 0.50 percent global sulfur cap for bunkers in 2020, preparations to meet the expected shift in bunker demand will largely be left to bunker suppliers, CEO Bob Sanguinetti has told Ship & Bunker.

"We are in close discussion with bunker suppliers to see how we can best place ourselves for 2020, but that is something we are largely leaving to the private sector and the bunker suppliers," said Sanguinetti.

"They will know what their clients want and they will then position themselves to ensure that they can deliver."

As previously discussed on Ship & Bunker, with 0.50 percent fuel oil products expected to be in limited supply, the majority of vessels are expected to shift to burning MGO as their primary bunker fuel.

In addition to engagement with the bunker community in preparation for 2020, Sanguinetti highlighted steps the port is taking in cooperation with Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) in order to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a bunker fuel at Gibraltar.

"We're working with Shell to develop an implementation plan for LNG bunkering, so we are looking at the technical, the safety, and the operational procedures that we need to deliver LNG as a bunker fuel in the next 12 to 24 months," Sanguinetti told Ship & Bunker.

As Ship & Bunker reported in August, Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar (HMGoG) and GPA signed a bunker market development agreement with Shell - a move that was called "a significant milestone on the road to delivering LNG as a bunker fuel to ships at anchor in Gibraltar".