Marine bunker fuel sales at the UAE’s Fujairah port slipped to five-month lows in November, data showed, while attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea are expected to keep shipping sentiment cautious in the Middle East into December.

Monthly sales, excluding lubricants, fell 6.7% from October to 610,498 cubic metres in November, or about 605,000 metric tons, based on Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

The monthly decline was largely in line with an overall downtrend in bunker fuel sales at key ports in November.

Meanwhile, recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea are expected to keep shippers in the Middle Eastern region cautious.

Shipping firms, including major container shipping lines MSC and A.P. Moller-Maersk, have said they would avoid the Suez Canal, as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

November’s low-sulphur bunker sales of residual fuels and marine gasoils totalled 439,060 cubic meters at Fujairah, or about 435,000 metric tons, down 10.4% from October.
In contrast, high-sulphur bunker sales in November rose 4.5% month-on-month to 171,438 cubic meters, or about 170,000 metric tons, amid much more competitive prices than low-sulphur bunkers.

This brought down the market share of low-sulphur bunkers to 72% from 75% in the previous month, and raised that of high-sulphur bunkers to 28% from 25%.

Fujairah’s marine fuel sales or bunker volumes provide a gauge of shipping market sentiment in the Middle East.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)