The Bunker Surveyors

26/03/2024

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11/06/2019

Today service
MSC VIDHI @ Navegavtes
MSC LORETA @ Santos
MERCOSUL GUARANI @ Santos

So nothing better of 3 vessels on same day
Working in progress

24/05/2019

01/05/2019

MSC CAROLINA happy 1st May

24/04/2019

One more MSC vessel attended by THE BUNKER SURVEYORS

16/04/2019

The Bunker Surveyors onboard oF MSC ORIANE

27/02/2019

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06/07/2018

Independent bunkerers should focus on small ports, shun big hubs:
London — Marine fuel suppliers that operate independently from refiners and cargo traders should pull out from the world's larger bunkering hubs as consolidation continues to shrink the sector, according to maritime consultant and industry veteran Adrian Tolson.

The collapse in crude oil prices in 2014 triggered a wave of consolidation across the bunker industry as margins narrowed. November 2014 saw the unexpected collapse of OW Bunker, at the time one of the world's largest marine fuel traders, and the industry has been under pressure ever since from tightening credit conditions and lackluster demand.
In that context, bunker suppliers need to reconsider their presence in hubs such as Singapore and Rotterdam in favor of smaller ports where they have expertise, Adrian Tolson, senior partner at consultancy 2020 Marine Energy, told S&P Global Platts in an interview last week.

"Truthfully, there isn't money in these markets -- they are oversold, overmanaged, overtraded and are subject to market forces that are not part of the marine fuel sector," he said. "If you're selling bunkers in Rotterdam and someone's trying to arb a cargo to Singapore, you suddenly find local supplies are tight and all of that costs you money."

"The decision to come into high-volume ports is something that has to be taken very carefully," he added. "You've got to think where you are in the supply chain, and know your strengths throughout the chain."

Late last year Germany's Bomin Group announced it was closing offices in London, Athens, Tallinn and Madrid to focus on physical supply operations elsewhere, warning of "a new era for bunkering."

And in September, Minerva Bunkers, owned by Switzerland's Mercuria Energy Trading, said it would close its Piraeus and Seoul offices and focus European operations in Las Palmas and its Asian staff in Singapore and Japan.

As the bunker market matures, the larger hubs will increasingly be dominated by the larger suppliers for whom economies of scale from their other operations leave them with healthier margins than the independent sellers, Tolson said.

"It's something they need to evaluate, can they make money from being in that location?" he said. "As perhaps the smaller companies exit, you'll see other people coming in who are on the cargo trading side, or significant refiners, or significant oil companies. Because for them it's strategically important to be in Rotterdam or Houston, or wherever it is." But those same economies of scale make the smaller ports less attractive to the oil refiners and cargo traders, leaving these locations open to the rest of the bunkering industry.

"The smaller ports will get smaller, and as they get smaller they become less economic for some of the bigger players and more interesting for some of the smaller players," Tolson said. "I'd be looking for those opportunities, neglected supply ports where supply may be challenged as the future comes forward."

The IMO's new 0.5% sulfur cap coming into effect in 2020 may give new hope to some suppliers selling new low sulfur fuels, Tolson said. But he argued that these markets are also likely to become dominated by the larger players before long, leaving smaller suppliers with the same lack of profitability they currently face.

"I see margins in some of these places just getting crushed," he said. "People complain to me about their operation, and you want to slap them in the face sometimes and say, what did you expect, why did you think you had an opportunity in this market?"

"What may have been valid a decade ago is not valid in 2017, it's time to move on."

--Jack Jordan, [email protected]
--Edited by Alisdair Bowles, [email protected]

YOUR PARTNER FOR Why Choosing a reliableBunker Surveyor Although the drop in oil price has led to a fall in operational cost of a vessel, bunker fuel - especially when the more expensive distillate is used in an Emission Control Area (ECA) - remains a significant component of operational cost. Even....

06/07/2018

28/06/2018

Maersk Line, MSC Resort to Emergency Bunker Surcharge amid Rising Bunker Prices

Danish liner company Maersk Line has decided to introduce an Emergency Bunker Surcharge (EBS) as a way of coping with the rising bunker prices.

“The increase in bunker price in 2018 has been significantly higher than what had been expected and has now reached a level of 440 USD/ton in Europe, the highest since 2014,” the company said in a customer advisory.

As informed, the increase is more than 20 pct higher when compared to the beginning of 2018.

Maersk Line said that due to the unexpected development it was no longer possible for the company to recover bunker costs through the standard bunker adjustment factors.

As such the EBS will be applicable to all cargo globally, effective June 1 2018 for non-Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) corridors and July 1, 2018 for FMC corridors, the company added.

Maersk Line’s move follows in the footsteps of Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) introduction of EBS a couple of days ago on all ocean and land-based cargo carriage with immediate effect.

“The continued surge in bunker prices has greatly impacted the operating environment for container shipping lines,” MSC said.

“Fuel prices are up more than 30 percent this year, and almost 70 percent since last June. (…) With crude oil today hovering around $80 a barrel – the highest since 2014 – the situation is no longer sustainable without emergency action.”

MSC said the last-resort measure was essential to ensure that the company navigates the challenging economic conditions in a steady and sustainable way.

“We continue to evaluate longer-term strategies to help ease the situation,” MSC added.

High bunker costs was one of the key factors that impacted A.P. Moller-Maersk’s earnings in the Ocean segment, which reached USD 492 million.

Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Møller Mærsk, announced that in response to the current challenging market conditions the group is implementing a number of short-term initiatives to improve profitability.

These will include scaling down of capacity and charter deals as well as closing down of some services in order to drive the unit costs down. The company anticipates to cut the costs on annual basis by 2 pct.