Marine fuel supplier and trading firm Monjasa has carried out its first biofuel blend delivery in Singapore, and expects to see growth in demand for the alternative fuel at the world's largest bunkering hub next year, according to Ship & Bunker.
The firm recently bunkered Yang Ming's 14,220 TEU container ship the YM Wonderland with 2,000 mt of a B24 blend in Singapore, Morten Jacobsen, managing director for Asia at Monjasa, said in an interview with Ship & Bunker last week.
The company used their delivery vessel Radiance for the operation.
"We definitely see more interest in biofuels, among other alternative fuels," Jacobsen said. "So far it's mainly been the container lines who have been taking biofuel deliveries. "We have been waiting for opportunities to engage with biofuel deliveries, and therefore it made sense for us when Yang Ming started to ask for biofuels "It was having our own fleet here in Singapore that allowed this to happen."
The EU's FuelEU Maritime regulation is set to come into force from the start of next year, requiring shipowners operating in Europe to include a fixed percentage of low-carbon fuels in their energy consumption. This is likely to be a significant driver of biofuel bunker demand, both at European ports and elsewhere in the world.
"That could definitely have a positive demand effect for Singapore, particularly because we expect the shipowners to bunker biofuels in ports where trade flows and product availability are well established, and that would be the case in Singapore," Jacobsen said.
Demand Levels Singapore averaged about 48,000 mt/month of biofuel sales in the first half of the year, or about 1.1% of total bunker sales in the city-state's waters That compares to an average at Rotterdam of about 83,000 mt/month over the same period, or 11.9% of the Dutch port's total demand Singapore's conventional bunker sales are typically about five times as large as Rotterdam's.
But it's too early to say when Singapore's biofuel sales might overtake those at the Northwest European hub, Mortensen argued. "There will be speculation over if and when Singapore will do that, but it would be pure speculation, guessing," he said.
One factor that might bring more demand to Singapore would be lower prices. B24 blends in Singapore currently trade somewhere in the low $700s/mt, versus VLSFO prices somewhere in the low $600s/mt. The EU has recently announced it will impose tariffs on cheap biofuel imports in China, which will be likely to raise biofuel prices in Europe relative to the rest of the world.
"We still have to see exactly what the effect is, but it could be that biofuels in Asia will grow faster compared to Europe," Jacobsen said.