A port authority in the south-west of the United Kingdom says revenue from bunker calls has climbed as more ships stop to stem low sulphur bunker fuel. Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, in a review of 2007 published this month, said it had seen an increase in all elements of its business. It said turnover and profit had risen, in part because of an increase in bunker calls as ships stopped to refuel before entering the North European Sulphur Emission Control Area.
The SECA, which was extended in August last year to include the English Channel and North Sea, requires ships to burn fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 1.5%. Falmouth lies close to its western edge.
The main bunker supplier in the port is World Fuel Services (WFS). The company hasn't given figures for volumes supplied, but sources close to the market said bunker calls were running at around 100 vessels a month, "appreciably higher" than before the SECA came into force.
The sources said total volume supplied was probably no more than was being supplied before the SECA was extended into the English Channel, but that what had grown was the number of calls.
"On average, the size of stems has gone down. Ships are taking on just enough fuel to see them in and out of the SECA," said one player.
Bunkering in Falmouth is normally done by barge and within harbour limits.
The Harbour Commissioners said its turnover in 2007 was up some £200,000 ($400,000) year-on-year, totalling just over £1.6million million ($3 million).
Market sources told Bunkerwold in November that the number of bunker calls in Falmouth had grown.
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