What moved the bunker market this week?

Every Friday, our research team breaks down the key developments shaping bunker prices, fuel availability and global shipping. Explore the week’s essential stories, understand the forces driving the market, and see what bunker buyers should be watching next.

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World’s largest ethanol stem delivered in Singapore

Bunker supplier Golden Island delivered about 5,000 mt of ISCC-certified bio-ethanol to the dual-fuel container ship Maersk Halifax in Singapore’s first ethanol bunker operation.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it was the largest ethanol volume delivered in a single bunker operation, nearly twice the 2,800 mt Repsol supplied to Antonia Maersk in Barcelona in July. Golden Island’s IMO Type 2 chemical tanker Golden Centaurus bunkered the ship using a mass flow meter (MFM) while its containers were being handled.

The MPA will use the operation to assess how Singapore’s methanol bunker standards could be adapted for ethanol and whether existing MFM systems can serve future stems.

Maersk said it had also trialled ethanol on the dual-fuel ships Laura Maersk and Tangier Maersk earlier this year.

PetroChina adds methanol and B100 bunker vessel

Chinese energy company PetroChina’s Singapore subsidiary has taken delivery of the 8,000- dwt Vanda Pioneer, an IMO Type 2 bunker vessel that can carry methanol and 100% biofuel (B100). The company bought it to meet demand for lower-emission marine fuels in Singapore.

It is the first IMO Type 2 vessel in the supplier’s Singapore bunker fleet, general manager Alex Ho said. The delivery will strengthen its operations in the port.

PetroChina secured a five-year licence last year to supply methanol as a bunker fuel in Singapore from this year.

ZEMBA’s first tender cuts 82,000 mt of CO2e

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) has concluded its first low-emission shipping tender with Hapag-Lloyd, which cut emissions by 82,000 mt of CO2e in 2025 and 2026. The German container line ran waste-based liquefied biomethane (LBM) on some of its LNG-capable ships across eight voyages, under 17 contracts with ZEMBA members including Amazon, Nike, IKEA and Patagonia.

Hapag-Lloyd allocated certificates for the reductions to those members through a book-and-claim system. This let cargo owners pay a premium to claim the cuts even when their cargo sailed on ships burning conventional fuels.

ZEMBA’s second tender moves to e-fuels from 2027. Hapag-Lloyd will use e-methanol while Norwegian shipping company North Sea Container Line will use green ammonia.

Shipowners want EU clean fuel subsidy tripled

European shipowners want at least 330 million EU carbon allowances set aside to cut the cost of cleaner bunker fuels, three times the 110 million proposed by the European Commission. The Commission included the plan, the Sustainable Maritime Alternative Propulsion (SMAP) mechanism, in its July proposal to revise the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). SMAP would give up to 110 million allowances back to shipping companies between 2028 and 2040 to cover part of the extra cost of cleaner fuels and technologies.

The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) said in a study published last week that SMAP would meet only a third of shipping’s needs, leaving a gap of around 220 million allowances. It said cleaner fuels cost four times as much as conventional ones on average, and that shipping has never received free allowances.

The group also wants SMAP to cover more technologies, including energy efficiency projects.

Car carrier takes 2,300 mt of methanol in Guangzhou

The car carrier Guangrong took 2,300 mt of methanol at Guangzhou’s Nansha terminal last Friday. Sinobunker’s bunker vessel Daqing 268 supplied the stem, including 1,400 mt of bonded green methanol. It is the largest of three methanol stems Daqing 268 has delivered at Guangzhou since September. The port authority said Guangzhou is the only port to have supplied green methanol to container ships, bulk carriers and car carriers.

Verde adds barges in Flushing, Terneuzen and Ghent

Dutch bunker supplier Verde Marine Energy has added barges in Flushing, Terneuzen and Ghent, along with a dedicated HSFO barge. The expansion follows its August agreement with US bunker supplier Sunoco Marine to widen supply in the ARA and the UK, adding barges, products and locations. Verde began supplying biofuels, including B100, in the ARA in June and says it has since delivered thousands of mt by barge and truck.

Panama HSFO sales lowest since July 2023

Panama’s bunker sales fell 7% in September from August, according to preliminary data from the Panama Maritime Authority, with HSFO leading the decline.

HSFO sales dropped 38% to 75,000 mt, the lowest monthly volume since July 2023. The authority recorded no HSFO sales on the Atlantic side, against about 3,500 mt in August. VLSFO sales rose 8% to 266,000 mt and LSMGO sales gained 7% to 38,000 mt, while 0.50% MGO sales fell 28% to 6,000 mt. VLSFO’s share of the market widened to about 69%, while HSFO’s narrowed to about 20% from about 29%.

Total sales averaged 12,900 mt/day, down from 13,300 mt/day in August. A total of 543 ships called for bunkers, down from 569 and the fewest in any month since June 2024, although the number of barges operating rose to 33 from 29.