At the 12th Fujairah International Bunkering and Fuel Oil Virtual Forum (FUJCON 2021) held on Tuesday (23 March) and Wednesday (24 March) Captain Salem Al Hamoudi, Director, Fujairah Oil Industry Zone announced the Port of Fujairah has partnered with S&P Global Platts to jointly publish monthly bunker sales and lubricant volumes, reports Manifold Times.
Increased Transparency
The data will be made available on the 20th of each month, as part of the Emirate’s push to drive for increased transparency.
“On behalf of S&P Global Platts, I’d like to be the first to congratulate you on the launch of this new data,” said Dave Ernsberger, Global Head of Content & Market Content Insight, S&P Global.
“It is really exciting to see how Fujairah is pairing, infrastructure development with information and insight development which you’ve introduced here, and at Platts we are grateful to be a partner and are pleased to support in any way that we can.”
Preparation of IMO 2020
In preparation of the IMO 2020 transition, the Port of Fujairah implemented several strategies in terms of infrastructure which provided a soft landing during the Covid-19 lockdowns last year, noted Captain Salem.
The port dedicated four bunker barge berths for low sulphur fuel and Marine Gas Oil (MGO) loadings and data indicated 84% of bunkers sold throughout 2020 consisted of VLSFO and MGO products.
Vast Storage Capacities Available
Operations were also supported by production from local refineries by Vitol, Uniper and Ecomar as well as the vast storage capacities available inside the Port and Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.
“Despite what was said in press releases that the Fujairah bunker market declined by about 18% in 2020, it was actually a rather steady year for us,” said Martijn Heijboer, Business Development Manager, Port of Fujairah.
“We are still among the three biggest bunker markets in the world. And in 2020, close to 9 million cubic metres of bunker fuel was sold at the Fujairah offshore Anchorage.”
“2019 was a record year for the port in terms of oil handling, volumes increased by 15% compared to 2018, and in 2020 it is remarkable that we managed to almost match this volume despite some very low throughput months.”
Developing Additional Infrastructure
Moving forward, the port plans to focus on developing additional infrastructure to support growth volumes. Several terminals are improving their connectivity with the port and it is anticipating further expansions in the storage landscape.
While it is working on developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering infrastructure, the port is also considering establishing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) loading arms to its facility as it receives increasing inquiries for the sector.
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Source: Manifold times
