Singapore marine fuel sales fall in May as cargo ship calls plummet

[SINGAPORE] May sales of marine fuels in Singapore dropped to a three-month low of 3.925 million tonnes as cargo shipping activity fell to at least a five-year low and average bunker loadings shrank, official data showed.

The May sales volumes in Singapore, the world's top marine refuelling hub, dropped by 2 per cent from last year and 5 per cent from April, the latest data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed.

In a sign of the detrimental impact the coronavirus has had on global trade, the number of cargo ships calling at the world's top transhipment port fell to 3,059 ships in May, the lowest since at least the start of 2015, which is as far back as available data goes.

Average bunker loadings fell to a five-month low in May at 1,206 tonnes per ship, down from 1,285 tonnes in April and 1,208 tonnes last year, Reuters calculations showed.

REUTERS