Rotterdam Q2 Conventional Bunker Sales Drop by 1.1%; LNG Loses 59.6%

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday August 3, 2022

Conventional bunker sales at the Port of Rotterdam, the world's second-largest marine fuels hub, have slipped in the second quarter while LNG deliveries slumped.

Conventional sales excluding lubricants, LNG and biofuels reached 2.3 million mt in the second quarter, according to the latest data from the port authority, down by 1.1% from the same period a year earlier and by 3.4% from the first quarter of 2022.

The port authority also revised down its conventional bunkers total for the first quarter to 2.3 million mt, from 2.6 million mt previously.

Rotterdam's VLSFO sales slipped by 1.1% on the year to 920,223 mt in the second quarter. HSFO gained 17% to 718,325 mt, ULSFO sank by 17.1% to 188,177 mt, MGO rose by 8.2% to 269,833 mt and MDO fell by 6.2% to 166,583 mt.

That left VLSFO with a share of about 41% of the Rotterdam market in the second quarter, HSFO with 32%, distillates with 19% and ULSFO with 8%. That compares with 45%, 27%, 19% and 10% respectively a year earlier.

The LNG bunker market at Rotterdam appears to be in sharp decline in response to recent high prices. The Dutch port saw 63,497 m3 of LNG bunker sales in the second quarter, down by 59.6% from the second quarter of 2021 and by 43.2% from the first quarter of this year.

Biofuel sales continued to climb overall. The port saw 160,020 mt of bio-fuel oil blend sales in the first quarter and 9,619 mt of biodistillate blend sales, up by 288% and down by 23.7% respectively from the same period a year earlier. These figures reflect sales of blends containing unreported ratios of biofuel and conventional fuel.