Shipowners are reportedly facing long queues and higher costs when refuelling in Singapore, the world’ largest bunkering hub.
With the IMO requiring vessels to switch to 0.5%-sulphur fuel from high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) from January, unless they are installed with scrubbers, barge owners are busy cleaning the tanks onboard to carry the new compliant fuel.
Citing unnamed shipping firms and brokers, Bloomberg reported it would take about two weeks to book a barge instead of the usual five days with many units out of service.
“We are clearly seeing the [IMO 2020's] impact on bunkering infrastructure,” IHS Markit’s head of maritime research Rahul Kapoor told Bloomberg.
Some shipowners said they were being asked to pay more due to the barge shortage, with premiums for HSFO over Singapore benchmark prices doubling to between $8 and $10 per tonne since September.
According to one of the shipowners, only about 20% of the more than 300 barges that serve Singapore have switched to supplying the 0.5%-sulphut fuel.
Argus Media reported low spot availability of both HSFO and 0.5%-sulphur fuel, another reason behind the delays in refuelling for many shipowners.
According to a bunker supplier, the waiting time for vessels refuelling on HSFO would be about a week, while vessels on 0.5%-sulphur need to wait one extra day.
It is still possible to schedule vessels for bunkering sooner in Singapore, "but premiums are high", a shipowner told Argus.
To avoid the delays, some shipowners have had to bunker at the nearby Port Klang, even though marine fuel prices are higher in the Malaysian port.
