Barge congestion in Rotterdam was showing no signs of easing on Friday.
One player told Bunkerworld that barges wanting to load product from Vopak’s Europoort terminal were facing delays of up to a week.
He said other terminals in the port were congested, although the delays were not so prolonged.
The Europoort terminal is a major loading point for Rotterdam’s bunker barge fleet and a key part of the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) bunker hub.
The source told Bunkerworld the latest delays were “extreme”, even by Rotterdam’s standards. He said some 60,000 metric tonnes (mt) of fuel oil was waiting to be loaded to be loaded onto barges.
Delays at Vopak’s Europoort terminal have been a feature of the port’s growing bunker market for years.
Players today blamed the terminal for trying to handle more product than its capacity allowed.
One said the situation was made worse by VLCCs (very large crude carriers) loading fuel oil arbitrage cargoes for Asia.
There was also criticism of Vopak for using the same tanks for loading and blending.
Vopak was not immediately available to comment on Friday.
Product in Antwerp, meanwhile, was reported to be tight and the delays in Rotterdam made suppliers reluctant to send barges to the Dutch port for loading.