Aegean Marine Petroleum Network stopped its Jamaica-based bunkering services ahead of the approach of Hurricane Matthew, with other maritime terminals also following suit.
The category-four hurricane, the strongest recorded in the Atlantic Basin since 2007, is currently sitting over the southwestern tip of Haiti, which is expecting almost two feet of rain due to the storm.
Aegean Maritime supplies bunker fuel to ships calling on Kingston, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. It runs two 6,200-dwt bunkering vessels. Managing director Capt George Kontogeorgis told TradeWinds that operations have halted as Matthew passes through the region.
“We are closed, all the Island is closed,” Kontogeorgis said. “We hope to be open by Thursday.”
The island’s other bunkering operation, Petrotec Marine Petroleum, was unavailable to comment.
Statoil has also confirmed that it is closing its South Riding terminal in the Bahamas ahead of the approach of Matthew. The South Riding terminal serves as trans-shipment point for some 6.75 million barrels of crude, mostly between South and North America, and has two ship berths. Matthew is expected to hit the Bahamas on Wednesday.
Buckeye Partners, which runs the much larger 26.2 million barrel storage facility in Freeport, Bahamas, has not said whether the facility remains open.
