Locations of the bunkering ports by category (super, major, mid-size, small). Image Credit: Decarb Hub

Global bunkering demand remains heavily concentrated, with the world’s top 19 bunkering ports accounting for around half of global bunker volumes, according to a new report published by the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub (Decarb Hub).

The report published on Tuesday said this concentration means a relatively small number of ports could have a disproportionate influence over the pace and direction of shipping’s fuel transition.

“These ports are located on major international shipping routes and benefit from large-scale infrastructure, strong supplier presence, and high vessel traffic,” the report said.

The Decarb Hub identified Singapore as the dominant global bunkering hub, accounting for close to one quarter of global marine fuel volumes, while the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp-Zeebrugge (ZARA) region was described as the world’s second-largest bunkering location.

Combined, Singapore and the ZARA cluster account for almost one third of global bunkering activity, the report added.

The study argued that these major hubs are likely to become early centres for sustainable marine fuel deployment because they already possess extensive storage, bunker barge networks, safety systems and regulatory frameworks capable of supporting fuels such as methanol and ammonia.

“Early adoption of sustainable maritime fuels is most likely to happen in ports that already operate as high-throughput, tightly regulated bunkering systems,” the report said.

The report also warned that future bottlenecks may not stem from overall storage capacity, but from ports’ ability to safely handle multiple fuel types simultaneously using segregated infrastructure and specialised handling systems.

"The existing bunkering system is not evenly distributed: it is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of ports that serve major trade routes, supported by mature terminal networks, deep supplier ecosystems, and high vessel traffic," the report states.

The report, titled Building the sustainable maritime fuel supply chain, can be downloaded here.