Shell Eastern Trading was the top bunker supplier in Singapore in 2020 as the sector saw a check in the top industry players in the wake of the collapse of oil trading giant Hin Leong.

The Singapore bunkering unit of the Anglo-Dutch oil major moved up four places in the annual ranking in a year which saw a number of changes.

Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services was in second place after climbing from fourth in the previous year, latest data from the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) showed.

Ocean Bunkering Services, a sister company of collapsed shipowner Ocean Tankers, slumped to 21st place from second in 2019.

PetroChina International, the top supplier by volume in 2019, dropped to fourth place last year, while Sentek Marine & Trading dropped one spot to third.

BP Singapore moved up three places from eighth to fifth, while Glencore moved up one place to sixth, the data showed.

Large movers

Among the other large movers where Chevron Singapore, which climbed from 21st to ninth in 2020. In contrast France’s Total Marine Fuels slipped from sixth place to 13th.

Trafigura’s TFG Marine and Mercuria’s Minerva Bunkering, which were the first to be issued new bunkering licenses by the port authority since 2017, ranked 16th and 22nd, respectively.

The overall number of licensed bunker suppliers steadied at 45 companies in 2020, unchanged from 2019 which marked a sixth year of shrinking supplier numbers amid narrowing profit margins, strict enforcement checks and few new licence awards.

New global rules that forced shipowners to switch to low-sulphur fuels helped reshape the bunkering market, favouring larger suppliers with integrated supply chains and better access to capital, trade sources said.

Sales of marine fuels in Singapore climbed to a three-year high in 2020, supported by resilient December volumes and bucking a weaker global trend as the coronavirus pandemic suppressed demand, official data showed.