The lack of barges prevents a greater increase in bunkering in La Luz
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The Red Sea crisis The supply of fuel to ships has increased by 17%, the so-called ‘bunkering’, in the first two months of the year. Between January and February, a total of 427,526 tons of frenet fuel have been dispensed on the islands, compared to almost 377,000 a year earlier.
The rebound, although notable, is lower than that recorded in other Spanish ports, such as Cádiz (+109%) and Algeciras (+35%, with 610,615 tons, the number in the Spanish system), among others.
The ‘bunkering’ in La Luz, which is the main port activity that has benefited from the Red Sea crisis, It does not grow, however more due to the lack of barges. Although some of the operators have managed to double what they had – such as Peninsula Petroleum, which has four – the current ones are insufficient, according to close sources.
The CEO of Astican, Germán Suárez, pointed in this direction a few days ago in a national forum organized by the Maritime Cluster of Spain under the title ‘Red Sea: geostrategic situation and influence on maritime transport’. As he pointed out, the majority of the traffic that is diverted around the Cape of Good Hope and crosses La Luz are ships “that stay at anchor” and generate activity mainly for fuel suppliers (‘bunkering’) and provisions, in addition to generating indirect business with changes of crews to the city’s accommodation establishments. The air connectivity of the islands and their tourism leadership play a key role here, as he noted.
However, he indicated that, despite the strong rise in bunkering (especially in January, which was 30%), “no more” fuel is supplied in La Luz because “barges are not available in the market. Suárez highlighted the greater movement of the transshipment terminal as another impact, but limited it to MSC ships, owner of the Opcsa terminal. According to him, there is no generalized diversion to La Luz of ships from other shipping companies or regular lines and he expressed his doubts that this could happen. Furthermore, as he pointed out, for this to occur it would be necessary to carry out work on the dock.
Suárez, who participated in the forum as president of the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster and who has interests in the Greek shipping company Lavinia, which has 27 grain ships, highlighted the strong rebound in freight rates in recent years. As he pointed out, in 2016 its price was around 4,000-5,000 dollars per day when operating expenses exceeded 7,000.
Today, daily freight rates exceed $34,000 a day and, as indicated, will remain high for several reasons. On the one hand, the environmental regulations that have not yet clarified what the fuel of the maritime sector will be in the future and have reduced ship construction orders and on the other, the war in Ukraine, the drought in the Panama Canal and the conflict in the Red Sea. “If we put everything in the shaker, this is the result,” said Suárez..
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