Rise in bunkering bills needs to be passed on to customers, say lines, with little scope for further deceleration of vessel speeds – the ‘last resort’ for carriers.

Container shipping executives have called for the supply chain to share the burden of rising fuel costs, which they describe as an economic hit of the value of $10 billion, with carriers saying there is little scope for further deceleration of vessel speeds – seen as the ‘last resort’ for carriers.

Ocean Network Express chief executive Jeremy Nixon said the swelling bunkering bill had overtaken the supply and demand issue and become the key concern for carriers. The price of IFO 380 bunker fuel in Rotterdam reached $443 per tonne this week, with Brent crude hovering around $80 a barrel — the highest since 2014.

“We are in a situation where fuel costs this week are $100 per tonne more than they were at the same time last year,” Nixon said. “Container shipping operators are burning about 100 million tonnes of fuel oil a year,” equating to a $10 billion economic hit for container shipping as a whole.

Source : Lloyds List