Danish shipping company AP-Moller Maersk consumed less marine fuel last year and paid less for it.
Maersk is the biggest bunker buyer in the world. Its fleet of 307 owned and 401 chartered vessels consumed 11.1mn t of marine fuels in 2019, down by 7pc from 11.9mn t in 2018.
The average price it paid dropped by 3pc on the year to $412/t from $424/t in 2018. This cut the company's total bunker fuel costs by 9pc to $4.6mn from $5.2mn.
Maersk has chosen to comply with the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) 0.5pc marine fuel sulphur cap mainly through using on compliant fuels. But it has also retrofitted several of its vessels with scrubbers. Some of the retrofit installations in Chinese shipyards have been delayed because of the lunar new year holiday and the coronavirus outbreak.
Maersk swung to an overall loss of $44mn in 2019, after making a profit of $3.2bn the year before. The 2018 result was boosted by accounting gains on the sale of its upstream subsidiary Maersk Oil to Total.