Bunker demand at the port of Singapore hit a record high of 54.9mn t in 2024, with Singapore remaining the biggest bunkering hub in the world.
Bunker demand jumped by 6pc on the year at the island nation, with total and conventional bunker sales reaching an all-time high, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). "Singapore continues to be the world's largest container transshipment hub," said transport minister Murali Pillaiat the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) New Year Conversations this week.
Total container throughput also hit a record high of 41.12mn twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in 2024, surpassing 40mn TEUs for the first time, Pillai added. This was up from 39m TEUs in 2023. The number of tanker arrivals for the year reached 25,802, up from 24,763 in 2023.
Singapore's bunkering of alternative marine fuels also breached the 1mn t mark in 2024, with 882,830t of bio-fuel blends and 463,948t of LNG bunkered at the port. Bunkering of bio-blends, using very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and used cooking oil methyl ester (Ucome), jumped by 51pc from 518,000t in 2023 to 779,900t in 2024.
Demand for high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO)-based B24 rose to 89,300t in 2024, from only 5,600t bunkered in 2023, as blending HSFO with Ucome picked up. This was supported by more scrubber installations by ship owners and the push to meet green savings targets set by the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Carbon Intensity Index (CII) and EU-led FuelEU Maritime.
Among other alternative marine fuels, LNG bunkering more than quadrupled to 463,900t in 2024 versus 110,900t. Interest to bunker LNG has surged among ship owners in this region since 2024, in an effort to again meet the compliance requirements set by IMO and EU.
Methanol for bunkering demand remained modest with sales registered only for one month last year, 1,626t in May.
Singapore VLSFO demand declined by 3.7pc from 2023 to 29.6mn t in 2024. Its HSFO demand grew for the fifth year in a row to 20.2mn t in 2024, and was up by 21pc from 2023. Singapore's marine distillates sales rose by 2pc from 2023 to 3.8mn t in 2024, but fell from its 2020 peak of 4.7mn t.
Ranking
MPA also published a list of its five top biofuel bunker and top 10 conventional bunker suppliers in 2024, which showed some reshuffling.
South Korean refiner SK Energy joined Singapore's top five biofuel suppliers in 2024, but it was not on MPA's list of 14 registered biofuel bunker suppliers in 2023. BP had ranked third in 2023, but fell out of the top five in 2024. Chevron, Maersk, Minerva and Vitol were Singapore's other top five biofuel bunker suppliers.
Glencore entered the top 10 ranking of conventional marine fuel suppliers in 2024, after it ranked 11th in 2023. Shell ranked ninth in 2023, but dropped out of the top 10 in 2024. The companies which remained in the top 10 were BP, Chevron, Eng Hua, Equatorial, Global Energy, Petrochina International, Sinopec Fuel Oil, TFG Marine and Vitol.
Among these, Equatorial, TFG Marine and Chinese suppliers, Petrochina International and Sinopec Fuel Oil, made up the top ranks by volumes in 2023. There were a total of 41 conventional bunker suppliers in Singapore in 2023.
