The Port of Rotterdam announced it bunkered 9.1m tonnes of fossil fuels in 2024, down 0.9% on 9.2m tonnes in 2023. The figure marks the second consecutive drop in overall bunker volumes from 9.8m tonnes in 2022.

The port attributed higher demand for LNG to a normalisation of gas prices. Rotterdam bunkering 52% more LNG in 2024 at 941,366 cu m, well above the levels recorded in 2021-2023.

Volumes were down for 5.9% for ULSFO, 9.0% for VLSFO, and 30.3% for MDO, while MGO and HSFO volumes both rose on-year by 7.1% and 7.8%, respectively.

Bio-blended bunker volumes rose slightly at the port, led by a near-trebling of bio-blended ULSFO volumes and a jump from 750 tonnes of biomethanol in 2023, the first year it was offered, to 3,900 tonnes in 2024. These increases were balanced by a 25% drop in bio-blended VLSFO to 439,227 tonnes.

“The demand for bio-blended fuels in 2024 exhibited a clear dichotomy: a slight growth in the first half of the year, followed by a sharp decline in the second half,” said Port of Rotterdam.

“That was particularly evident in the demand for bio-blended VLSFO, the largest of the bio-blends. The increased availability of bio-blended fuels in Asia following the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Chinese biofuel was the primary cause.”