Suez

Bunkering in the port of Suez

The port of Suez lies at the southern end of the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway that links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. This Egyptian port connects Europe, North Africa and Asia and has therefore gained importance as a bunker port for cargo vessels plying between these regions.

One supplier offers VLSFO for bunkering in Port Suez, while two offer HSFO and four LSMGO. Receiving ships will typically wait for transit at the Suez Canal’s south anchorage. About a quarter of vessels throwing anchor there are bulk carriers, followed by container ships, crude tankers, oil product and chemical tankers as the main vessel types.

The port has two harbours – Port Ibrahim and Port Tawfiq – which are linked to the capital city of Cairo via both railways and roads. It is also a resting point for Muslim pilgrims en route to Mecca and Medina.

Over the course of 150 years, the canal and the port have witnessed numerous modifications. Today, the seaport can handle some 6.6 million mt of freight in a year, as well as 1.5 million passengers.

Reasonably close to Port Suez are the Saudi Arabian Red Sea ports of Yanbu and Jeddah. These two ports are located between the Suez Canal to the north and major oil hubs by the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf to the east, and require very little deviation from ships sailing on one of the most important trade routes in the world. Saudi Arabia has set out a vision of boosting bunker supply in Yanbu and Jeddah towards 2030.

Jeddah has considerable onshore oil storage capacity and several bunker tankers deliver fuels from the port, where a total of five physical suppliers offer VLSFO, three offer LSMGO and one HSFO. Some of the bunker tankers have mass flow metres installed, which can more accurately measure the volume and mass of fuels sold in metric tonnes.