New Low-Sulphur Bunker Oil Popular In Rotterdam
New Low-Sulphur Bunker Oil Popular In Rotterdam
The new low-sulfur bunker oil VLSFO (Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil with a maximum 0.5% sulphur) has become very famous in the largest bunker port of Europe, Rotterdam.
Half of the entire bunker in November was for VLSFO. This could be seen by the bunkering notifications that came on the TimeToBunker App of the Rotterdam Authority.
From the 1st of January, only fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5% can be used in the seagoing ships in the oceans. The present maximum limit is 3.5%. High sulphur fuel can be used only on vessels that have scrubbers installed in them.
TimeToBunker App
According to the TimeToBunker App, the sales of VLSFO has gone up dramatically in the last two months: September 1,700 tonnes, October 32,000 tonnes and November 95,000 tonnes. This indicates that growth of the percentage of VLSFO within total fuel oil sales has increased from 1.8% in September to 51.6% in November. Only TimeToBunker can make this separation on the basis of sulphur content in fuel oil.
In the standard bunkering notifications
The sulphur level of fuel oil is not stated in standard bunkering notifications. However, Ronald Backers, the Port Authority’s bunkering expert, suspects that this trend is representative of all bunker sales in Rotterdam: “The TimeToBunker App has been used since February and is a huge success. Over a third of all bunkering notifications run via the app. I see no reason to assume that companies that still make standard bunkering notifications have completely different clients with completely different fuel oil purchasing behaviour.”
Severe regulations prevail on shipping on the North Sea and 0.1% sulphur can be present in bunker oil. However, many shipping companies
Although even stricter sulphur regulations apply to ship on the North Sea and bunker oil may only contain 0.1% sulphur, many shipping companies in Rotterdam are ordering VLSFO, because they also sail in other continents.
Reference: Port of Rotterdam
