In 2004, the Greek bunker market, and particularly its major port Piraeus saw sales volumes fall against a backdrop of rising global demand for bunkers. Bunkerworld Magazine asked leading Piraeus bunker supplier JetOil-Mamidoil to explain this anomaly and why the company has faith in the growth prospects of this market.Jetoil claims to hold a roughly 17-18% share of the Greek market, with supply conducted by barges owned and operated by its subsidiary JetTank. According to Jetoil's Alexander Prokopakis (General Manager for Jetoil Bunkering), around 70-80% of Greek bunkers are sold through the port of Piraeus. Patra is another relatively large bunkering port, serving mainly passenger liners. After Piraeus and Patra, Thessaloniki, Corinth and Igoumenitsa are the busiest ports.The total bunker sales volume for Greece in 2005 was 3,757,503 metric tonnes (mt). Sources said this figure had risen from around 3 million mt in 2004 after dropping from closer to 4 million in 2001-2002. Around 80% of product supplied in the market is fuel oil, with 20% distillates. Of these volumes around 30% is contract business, with the rest sold into the spot market.Analysts have blamed the recent decline in bunker sales on a shift in shipping patterns as fewer container vessels called at the port of Piraeus, although this trend is now in reverse since Chinese container line COSCO began calling at the port in the first quarter of this year. Prokopakis concurred with this: "We believe in a growing Greek market. For 2007 forward we estimate more calls and more deliveries. This is due to more vessels from China calling at Piraeus and expectations for increasing tourism." Meanwhile the port authority of Piraeus is moving ahead with plans to expand container handling capacity by 60% to 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by 2008. Another factor behind the market's earlier decline in sales has been its susceptibility to product shortages in the past few years - either when the refiners divert product to the domestic heating market or when economics make it more profitable to sell cargoes into the export market.Prokopakis, however, does not see this problem affecting the market ongoing. "Over the past six months availability and quality has improved. We estimate that if availability flow from refineries continues the market will show signs of recovery from July on," he said."We have experienced supply disruptions on very few occasions. We are always looking for ways to have availability and consistent service for our customers. With a balanced plan between importing products and purchasing from the local refineries we stay ahead of the competition," Prokopakis added. Demand has also been affected by competition from other Mediterranean markets, particularly Malta and Istanbul. Increasing traffic and congestion through the Turkish Straits has provided Istanbul with a captive market as operators take the opportunity to bunker their vessels whilst awaiting transit. Meanwhile, Malta's location along the busy Mediterranean shipping lanes, coupled with the lack of port dues arising from the number of offshore bunker areas in its waters have made Malta the biggest growth market in the Mediterranean bunker industry in recent years.While volumes in the Greek market were in decline for some time, the most recent figures indicate this trend is now in reverse. Conventional wisdom also points to future robust growth in global bunker demand on the back of strong economic growth and trade and buoyant demand for shipping.
Πηγή:http://www.portworld.com
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου