In recent months, port congestion is a serious problem in many port in northern China. Normally , congestion can be happened due to extreme weather, workers strike, over-loading capacity etc.
How does that affect your bunkering ?
- Not enough bunkers on board
Let say you planned to finish loading in port A and move on to popular bunkering port B for a bunker only call. You planned the port stay may be 3 days but now become 23 days. You might not have sufficient fuel until next port, so you have to order emergency supply in the loading port. The quality and price of bunkers in port A might not be very favorable to you.
2. The fixed bunker stem might be affected
From the same example from above, with your nominated ETA delay 23 days, supplier have the right to cancel the stem and re-offer you a new price. Imagine you already paid high premium for the extra fuel in loading port, now you have to pay another premium for the fixed bunkers that is like being punch by a Mike Tyson combo.
One way in dealing with this situation is when the moment you realize there is a chance of port congested and cause severe delay, check with your supplier immediately to see if you could change the eta to a later date. if on the date the bunker price is still similar to you fixing level, most supplier will be happy to accommodate for you
Until next time
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