For shipoperators, reasonable bunker supply options can effectively reduce shipoperating costs. Zhoushan is the only outer anchorage bunker port and haslowest fuel oil price in mainland China. Compared with the surrounding bunkerports in Northeast Asia, such as Busan, Hong Kong and Singapore, Zhoushan stillhas an advantage.
The following fuelprice data is provided by a dry cargo vessel shipowner which are circulated bya global bunker trader from October 1, 2018 to March 21, 2019. 50-day resultswere valid and compared.
The green dataline represents the reference price of Zhoushan bunker price provided by bunkertrader. In the price of heavy oil 380CST, the price difference between HongKong and Singapore is not big. The price of Zhoushan is slightly higher thanthat of Singapore, but it is obviously lower than that of Busan. At the priceof MGO, the price of Zhoushan is the highest.
The following isa comparison of Singapore's 380CST and MGO benchmarks:
The gray dataline shows the price of Zhoushan 380CST compared to Singapore (0 baseline) 50days of random selection between October 1, 2018 and March 21, 2019, Zhoushanprice is higher than Singapore around 30 dollars, the lowest price is about 7dollars lower than of Singapore.
The gray dataline shows the price of Zhoushan MGO compared to Singapore (0 baseline) in the50-day data randomly selected between October 1, 2018 and March 21, 2019, whichis always higher than Singapore's about 100 US dollars. The maximum is about$170. The minimum can be shortened to less than $100.
In summary, fromthe results of the 50-day sampling of the reference fuel oil price providedfrom the shipowner which are circulated by a global bunker trader, it can beseen that the price of 380CST heavy oil in Zhoushan is completely lower than thatof Busan. MGO prices are much higher than Singapore's to over $100.
The following isan example of a handysize and a Capesize type ship to compare the fuel consumption of a bulkcarrier in actual operation, and to judge the actual impact of Zhoushan'scurrent fuel oil price on ship operation:
MV AKIJ HERITAGE
DEADWEIGHT:56,055 MT ON 12.573 M DRAFT
SPEED ANDCONSUMPTION AT SEA: BALLAST ABT14.00 KTS ON ABT 32.50 MT HFO 380 CST ABT &0.1 MT LSMGO and LADEN ABT13.00 KTS ON ABT 32.50 MT IFO 380 CST ABT & 0.1MT LSMGO FOR ME & AE.
MV SEAMATE
DWT: 177,775 MTON 18.322 M SSW
BALLAST ABOUT14.00 KNOTS ON ABOUT 42.0 MTIFO
LADEN ABOUT 13.5KNOTS ON ABOUT 53.7 MT IFO
ALL PLUS 4.3 MTIFO AT SEA
For the Supramaxvessel MV AKIJ HERITAGE, if MGO consumes 0.1 tons in daily and bunker inSingapore, the additional fuel consumption will be 10 US dollars to 15 USdollars higher than Zhoushan bunkering (according to the sampling statisticsabove).For the navigation consumption of heavy oil 380CST, the current intermediatebunker price of 425 US dollars on the market (March 22) to cost 13812.5 USdollars. This is almost negligible compared to the extra cost of MGO light oilof $10-15.
For the Capesizevessle MV SEAMATE, the heavy oil consumption during navigation is about 42-53.7tons plus 4.3 tons of heavy oil consumption at sea. That is, the daily fuelconsumption is between 46.3-58 tons, and the cost is about 17850-22822.5dollars per day. MGO is not consumed while sailing.
In summary, the Zhoushan's MGO higher price impact ismore lower than the impact of Singapore's which is higher about 100 US dollarsdue the reason is vessel daily MGO consumption is rather lower. According tothe fact that heavy oil fuel prices are generally cheaper than Busan, for thosevessels which trading routes allows to choose Busan and Zhoushan as a bunkeroption, Zhoushan bunker option could replace Busan option in terms of thestrategy of ship operation.
Source: MarineCircle News
