Bunkering

Bunkering is the supply of fuel for international shipping and aviation. The port of Rotterdam supplies vessels with fuel on a 24-hours-a-day basis. Annually, approximately 30 thousand ocean vessels have to take in fuel before departure. Most ocean vessels use fuel oil which is heavy and has a high viscosity relative to diesel oil with a high sulphur content of approximately 3 percent. Before the fuel oil is pumped into a vessel it is injected with steam to make it more liquid. Light fuel oil with a low percentage of sulphur is mainly used in inland shipping and fishing. Fuel oil is cheap, because its high viscosity makes it fit only for large vessels. On the Rotterdam free market, the price per tonne of fuel oil ranges between 200 and 300 euro.

Source: Bunkerworld