Fujairah marine fuel bunker sales hit new records

Marine bunker fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah port hit their highest in more than a year in March, buoyed by firmer global refuelling demand after Red Sea shipping disruptions, the latest data showed.

March bunker sales, excluding lubricants, totalled 700,918 cubic metres (about 694,000 metric tons), based on Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Sales for March climbed 10.7 per cent from February and were up 25.2 per cent from the same month last year, posting a third straight month of yearly increases in 2024 after declining annually for every month in 2023.

Total sales for the first quarter of 2024 reached about 2 million tons, up nearly 14 per cent from the same quarter in 2023, in line with stronger quarterly sales at the world’s largest bunker hub Singapore.

Low-sulphur bunker sales of residual fuels and marine gasoils totalled 502,645 cubic metres at Fujairah in March, up 14.1 per cent from February.

Meanwhile, high-sulphur bunker sales climbed 2.9 per cent from February to 198,273 cubic metres in March.

The market share of low-sulphur bunkers was at 72 per cent while high-sulphur bunkers was at 28 per cent.

Red Sea shipping disruptions have spurred ships to refuel more at key bunker hubs this year.