Argus Media: Spanish bunker fuel sales decline accelerates in May 2020
- Published
by Admin
George Collard of global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on Friday (3 July) published an update on the overall decline of bunker sales in Spain during May as a result of COVID-19 related economic lockdowns:
The fall in bunker sales at Spanish ports continued in May, with Barcelona again bearing the brunt.
Spanish ports supplied 457,000t of bunker fuel in May, down by 35% from the same month a year earlier and by 13% from April, which itself was lower by 26% year on year. April was the first month when lockdowns imposed to combat Covid-19 hit European bunker sales.
Algeciras delivered 32% less bunker fuel in May than in the same month last year. Barcelona’s deliveries slumped by 71%. Deliveries at Ceuta fell by 54%, and at Tenerife by 45%.
Las Palmas was an outlier, with bunker deliveries up by 11% year on year. It became Spain’s largest bunker port in the first quarter, mainly because of competitive prices, according to suppliers. In the first half of April, 0.5% sulphur fuel oil at Las Palmas had been at a weekly average discount to Algeciras, before it moved to a premium in the second half. Las Palmas remained at a slight 75¢/t premium to the mainland port in May.
The overall fall reflects lower levels of arrivals, departures and trade. Just 27 cruise ships visited Spanish ports in May, compared with 478 a year prior — a 94% fall. Only two called at Barcelona, the country’s biggest cruise ship port, compared with 105 in May 2019.
Liquid bulk tonnes handled at Spanish, mainly from oil and chemical tankers, declined by 24%. The biggest liquid bulk port Algeciras saw a 36% decline. Algeciras is also Spain’s largest container port, and the number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) fell by 15% year on year. Spain’s overall TEU handlings fell by 22%.
Dry bulk tonnage at Spanish ports fell by 30%, although Barcelona, the biggest dry-bulk port, saw a 55% increase.
Gibraltar, which is the Mediterranean’s largest bunker port, does not publish monthly sales figures. In May, 450 ships called at the port for bunkering, which was a 7% drop on the year but up from April when the number was down by 15% year on year. No cruise ships called at Gibraltar for a second month in a row.
Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 6 July, 2020
