The Week in Alt Fuels: The ARA divide
The ARA bunker market appears to be diverging, with conventional fuel demand gravitating towards Antwerp while Rotterdam leads in both alternative fuel volumes and fuel diversity.
IMAGE: Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Getty Images
Rotterdam's conventional bunker market has come under pressure since the Netherlands implemented the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) earlier this year, with the port trailing Antwerp in conventional bunker volumes for the second straight quarter.
The Port of Rotterdam attributed part of the decline in conventional fuel sales to the additional sustainability obligations imposed on fuel suppliers. The port authority said the measures have increased the cost of conventional bunker fuels relative to competing ports, prompting some shipowners to bunker elsewhere.
Rotterdam port association Deltalinqs and four other industry bodies made the same case in a position paper submitted to Dutch ministries on 20 July, arguing that differences in Dutch implementation of RED III have created an uneven playing field and shifted conventional bunker demand to neighbouring ports.
“The Netherlands' early implementation of RED III was intended to accelerate the transition to greener fuels. In practice, however, the opposite is now happening: ships are simply bunkering 100% fossil fuels elsewhere,” Deltalinqs said.
While Rotterdam appears to be losing conventional bunker volumes to Antwerp, it continues to record significantly higher sales of low- and zero-emission bunker fuels than the latter.
Rotterdam's biofuel blend sales more than doubled from around 105,000 mt in the first quarter to about 240,000 mt in the second quarter of 2026. A market source partly attributed the increase to biofuel's improving economics against LSMGO amid higher fossil fuel prices during the Middle East war.
"The compression of bio-bunker premiums during the quarter, when biofuel premiums in relation to fossil marine fuel prices were shrinking, was also a supportive factor," Prima Markets analyst Ulrich Arnheiter said.
Growth extended beyond biofuels
Bio-methanol deliveries almost tripled to around 3,000 mt, from about 1,000 mt in the first quarter.
Rotterdam recorded ethanol bunker sales for the first time in the second quarter, at around 1,000 mt. X-Press Feeders' Eco Levant took an ethanol-methanol blend in May, and Maersk's Laura Maersk followed with a larger barge delivery of 100% ethanol in June.
Only liquefied biomethane (LBM) volumes declined, with bunker sales falling to 3,000 mt from 7,000 mt in the previous quarter.
Across the border, Antwerp's bio-bunker sales increased from around 21,000 mt to nearly 27,000 mt over the same period, but remained well below Rotterdam's volumes. No methanol sales were reported in the port, which does not break out LBM volumes separately.
Suppliers in both Rotterdam and Antwerp offer biofuels, LBM and methanol. But the Dutch port's position as one of the world's largest bunker ports and Europe's largest container port could make it a logical location to test emerging fuels, with a larger concentration of early-adopter shipowners, fuel suppliers and demonstration projects than its neighbouring ports.
Commercial factors including pricing, fuel availability, lead times, supplier offerings and shipowner procurement strategies are also likely to influence bunker purchasing decisions.
For instance, LSMGO-equivalent B100 can now be cheaper than LSMGO in Dutch ports once EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime incentives, and discounts from Dutch ZRE A tickets, are included in the price, Joe Tierney told ENGINE. Tierney is the head of trading at Verde Marine Energy.
The improved economics are driving a "huge increase in B100 demand and requirements", he said.
At the same time, Rotterdam's current lead does not necessarily mean the gap will persist going ahead.
For instance, Equinor is due to begin supplying Wallenius Wilhelmsen with bio-methanol in Antwerp and Zeebrugge from late 2026 under a two-year agreement. As suppliers expand availability of alternative fuels across the ARA region, differences in fuel availability and bunker sales between the region's major hubs could narrow over time.
In other news this week, Brazil's national energy agency has launched a public consultation on a draft resolution proposing to permit up to 100% biofuel (B100) for routine marine bunkering, law firm Mayer Brown said. The current regulation limits the biodiesel content of marine diesel oil to a maximum of 0.5% by volume.
The European Commission has approved a €103 million ($117 million) Dutch State aid scheme to support the deployment of methanol- and hydrogen-powered vessels. The funding will support both newbuilds and retrofits across multiple vessel types, including passenger and cargo ships, primarily for short-sea shipping.
The American Bureau of Shipping has approved the design of 12,000-cbm LNG bunkering articulated tug and barge (ATB) jointly developed by US shipbuilder Conrad Shipyard and South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries.
Italian ferry operator Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) is preparing five ferries for shore power connections, including two LNG dual-fuel vessels. LNG dual-fuel ferry GNV Aurora has completed a shore power trial at the Port of Barcelona. The trial confirmed the full functionality of the vessel's onboard shore power system, GNV said. The conventionally fuelled GNV Excellent has passed safety tests at the Port of Sète in France.
By Konica Bhatt
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