Biofuel
ENGINE: Biofuel bunkers are making waves
ENGINE team launched a project to map out all the physical bunker suppliers that offer biofuels in ports and investigated what was available in different regions.
As a growing part of the shipping industry is exploring ways to trim its carbon footprint, the ENGINE team reports that biofuels are making waves and finding their way to bunker ports around the world.
We often get asked variants of the question: “Where can we bunker biofuels?”
For every region and port that was enquired about, we had to investigate what was available. As the information accumulated in leaps and bounds, we decided to launch a project to map out all the physical bunker suppliers that offer biofuels in more and more ports.
It’s a moving target, and this is some of what we have uncovered so far.
East of Suez
Biofuels are starting to become more common in Singapore, but so far they have only made up a fraction of the port’s total bunker sales. B24 (24% biofuel) is the standard blend ratio as sea-going bunker barges are restricted to carrying 25% biofuel and as suppliers seek to err on the safe side of that requirement. Prices are often quotes as a premium over very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and the typical biofuel grade is fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), which is also called biodiesel.
A couple of Chinese bunker suppliers have started offering biofuel blends for delivery in Zhoushan and Guangzhou, and another two have brought them to Hong Kong. As biofuel blends don’t qualify as bonded bunkers in mainland China, in which value added tax (VAT) is waived for VLSFO, it makes less sense for Chinese refiners and blenders to blend them with VAT-exempt VLSFO. The suppliers therefore import finished B24-VLSFO blends from Singapore and other places before they are sold in Chinese ports.
B35-MGO blends are available in Indonesian ports because of a national 35% minimum biofuel blending mandate. But these derive from palm oil and are not sustainable. Palm oil’s close connection to deforestation means they won’t qualify under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) programme or as renewable fuels towards upcoming European Union (EU) regulations.
In the Middle East there is one major producer and wholesaler of waste-based biofuels. The UAE-based producer has struck supply deals with two physical bunker suppliers in the country, where it collects used cooking oil (UCO) from McDonalds restaurants and other sources. One of the suppliers has so-called ISCC-certification, which requires the biofuel to meet certain sustainability criteria throughout its lifecycle. From a small base, the producer says that bunker demand has doubled in each of the past three years, and that demand is expected to grow exponentially in the years to come.
Europe & Africa
Rotterdam dominates the global biofuel bunkering scene. Around 6% of all of the bunkers sold in the first half of this year was blended with biofuels, and that was down from an even stronger 8% last year. More biofuel trials and regular refuelling of ships have taken place in Rotterdam than in any other port and a greater number of suppliers offer biofuels there.
Local biofuel processing capacity, imports from China and competition between bunker suppliers in a burgeoning biofuel bunker market provide economies of scale in Rotterdam and contribute to keep prices in check.
But perhaps the biggest reason behind its growth is simple. Rotterdam is Dutch, and the Netherlands has generous market mechanisms in place for biofuels sold for bunkering, particularly for advanced waste-based biofuels. In fact, the price incentives have worked too well and pulled biofuel feedstock away from the road fuels market. The road fuels market faces tougher blending mandates, and more biofuels are needed to meet them, the government told ENGINE.
To rebalance the biofuel scales between road and marine, the Dutch government has launched a consultation with a proposal that could effectively halve the biofuel rebate multiplier. This could see Rotterdam’s discount of more than $200/mt to Singapore be slashed to about half that.
Mediterranean bunker suppliers are also starting to catch the biofuel wave. A few suppliers across Gibraltar, Spain, Malta and Italy now offer blends. Some typically need a week or two of lead time to source, blend and deliver the fuel to ships. One supplier has struck a deal with a ferry company that has tested biofuels blended in small ratios on a ferry with the upcoming FuelEU Maritime regulation in mind.
A lack of biofuel demand in South Africa and Mozambique has meant that suppliers have so far held back on bringing it to market. Some are saying they hope to pursue biofuel in the future.
Americas
US biofuel bunkering is struggling to gain traction in the absence of government subsidies. While harbour crafts and road vehicles enjoy subsidies, ocean-going vessels do not. This has meant that comparable B30 biofuel blends have been prohibitively expensive in Houston compared to Rotterdam for example.
Unlike Rotterdam and the rest of the EU’s upcoming CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations, there are also no nationwide US environmental regulations to incentivise uptake of biofuel blends by ships. Customer demand will therefore likely come from ship types close to the end consumer, like ferries, cruise ships and container ships.
Some bunker suppliers have already announced readiness or intent to offer. These include California, where local environmental regulations have boosted uptake of 99% renewable diesel (R99), which differs from FAME in that it is not chemically esters. Canada’s Vancouver, the US Gulf Coast, Colombia’s Cartagena and Brazil make up some of the other places with biofuels on offer.
The Panama Canal is likely the biggest bunker area in the Americas, but a joint venture of companies that was previously buoyant about the prospect of building at least one biorefinery and importing biofuels for bunkering and other transport fuel markets has more recently cast doubts about its feasibility. “The issue is feedstock and competing with current subsidies in the US and EU markets that hog and distort [the] price of feedstock,” one of the companies told ENGINE.
Meanwhile, a recent entrant to the US Gulf Coast’s biofuel bunker market has been championing a mass balancing approach. Its pricing is based on the feedstock type, but thanks to mass balance accounting the feedstock purchased does not necessarily need to be the feedstock in the fuel consumed by that buyer’s ship. Blends based on UCO, soybean oil and tallow are current options, and more waste-based biofuel alternatives is expected to follow in the future.
To help shipowners get more clarity around what’s available where, ENGINE will come out with more detailed overviews of biofuel bunker supply by region and port later this year.
By the ENGINE team: Shilpa Sharma, Nithin Chandran, Queeneerich Kharmawlong, Konica Bhatt, Debarati Bhattacharjee, Aparupa Mazumder, Tuhin Roy and Erik Hoffmann
Source: ENGINE
Photo credit: ENGINE / Shaah Shahidh on Unsplash
Published: 16 October, 2023
Alternative Fuels
ENGINE on Fuel Switch Snapshot: LSMGO surges to greater premium over biofuel
B100 discount to LSMGO widens to $541/mt in Rotterdam; Singapore’s B100 drops to $106/mt below LSMGO; Rotterdam LBM at $639-833/mt discounts to LSMGO.
Once a week, bunker intelligence platform ENGINE will publish a snapshot of alternative and conventional bunker fuel prices in the world’s two biggest bunkering hubs. The following is the latest snapshot:
20 July 2026
- B100 discount to LSMGO widens to $541/mt in Rotterdam
- Singapore’s B100 drops to $106/mt below LSMGO
- Rotterdam LBM at $639-833/mt discounts to LSMGO
B100’s premium over HSFO in Rotterdam has narrowed by $50/mt over the past week to $64/mt, while its discount to VLSFO has widened by $83/mt to $105/mt.
B100 has become far more competitive against LSMGO in Rotterdam, with its discount widening by $180/mt over the past week to $541/mt, as a surge in conventional fuel prices left B100 broadly unchanged by comparison.
B100’s price has risen by $109/mt in Singapore, but its discount to LSMGO has still widened by $102/mt to $106/mt, as LSMGO surged by an even greater $211/mt.
Rotterdam’s LNG premium over VLSFO has widened by $35/mt to $201/mt for vessels with Otto medium speed (Otto MS) engines. For vessels with diesel slow speed (diesel SS) engines, LNG has flipped to a $15/mt premium over VLSFO, from a $22/mt discount the prior week.
Liquefied biomethane (LBM) discounts to VLSFO in Rotterdam have narrowed by $50-52/mt to $203-396/mt over the past week. Against LSMGO, LBM discounts have widened by $45-47/mt to $639-833/mt, depending on engine type.
In Singapore, LNG is now $42/mt cheaper than LSMGO for vessels with Otto MS engines, and $134/mt cheaper for vessels with diesel SS engines.
Liquid fuels
HSFO and VLSFO prices in Rotterdam have jumped by $66/mt and $99/mt respectively over the past week, while LSMGO has surged by an even steeper $196/mt. A $9.69/bbl ($71/mt) rise in front-month ICE Brent futures, to $87.94/bbl ($645/mt), drove bunker prices sharply higher across the board.
Bunker fuel availability is tight for prompt delivery dates in the ARA ports, with buyers advised to enquire about stems between 5-7 days ahead to get good coverage, a trader said.
Rotterdam’s B100 price has risen by $16/mt over the past week. Dutch ZRE A ticket prices were unchanged at €107.50/mtCO2e.
Singapore’s HSFO and VLSFO prices have risen by $130/mt and $132/mt respectively, while its LSMGO price has gained an even steeper $211/mt over the past week.
VLSFO availability in Singapore has been tight, with several suppliers reporting low stock levels. Recommended lead times have widened from 13–17 days last week to 14–19 days now.
Liquid gases
Rotterdam’s LNG prices have surged by $134-136/mt over the past week, while its LBM prices have climbed by $149-151/mt.
LBM discounts to LNG in Rotterdam have narrowed by $15/mt to $404-411/mt.
Singapore’s LNG bunker benchmarks have surged by $196-197/mt over the past week.
By Erik Hoffmann
Photo credit and source: ENGINE
Published: 21 July, 2026
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