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Decarbonisation and Collaboration Take Centre Stage at IBIA Convention
The annual convention for industry body IBIA earlier this month saw collaboration and decarbonisation dominating bunker industry representatives' conversations about the future.
The annual event returned to Europe this year after outings to the US and UAE in 2022 and 2023, bringing close to 300 delegates to Athens in early November.
The overarching theme was of an increasingly complex state of the industry, with much more joint work needed between industry stakeholders to help advance the shipping industry's energy transition. IBIA will seek to position itself as the natural conduit through which this collaboration can be achieved.
IBIA shies away from defining itself as a lobbying group on behalf of the industry; because it remains fuel- and technology-agnostic and represents a variety of bunker-industry stakeholders, it has to give voice to a range of different viewpoints at the same time, IBIA Chairman Constantinos Capetanakis said at the event.
Shipping company representatives in a panel session at the conference discussed the range of alternative fuels and energy-saving technologies currently on the table for the industry, the geopolitical situation in the US, China, Middle East and Black Sea, and how regulations from the EU and IMO are changing how shipowners operate.
A panel of senior bunker supplier and trader representatives took on similar themes, addressing in particular the complications involved in firms traditionally supplying conventional fuels starting to take part in alternative fuel markets like biofuels, LNG and methanol.
Discussions around the sidelines of the event were largely focused on decarbonisation, with this theme now becoming much more of a reality than a theoretical topic as European regulations start to charge the shipping industry for its carbon emissions. Biofuels and LNG were discussed much more as mainstream fuels -- rather than niche alternatives -- than in the past.
Key Bunker Prices More
| VLSFO | MGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $/mt | +/- | $/mt | +/- | |
| Singapore | 570.00 | 1.00 | 683.00 | 2.50 |
| Rotterdam | 515.50 | 1.00 | 685.00 | 7.50 |
| Houston | 555.00 | 1.00 | 678.00 | 1.00 |
| Fujairah | 563.00 | 2.00 | 754.50 | 0.50 |
| Global 20 Ports Average | 587.50 | 1.50 | 765.00 | 0.50 |
| Global 4 Ports Average | 551.00 | 1.00 | 700.00 | 1.00 |
| Global Average Bunker Price | 634.50 | 1.00 | 812.50 | 1.00 |
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