Sales of marine fuel at Singapore rose to a nine-month high in October, led by an increase in container throughput and vessel calls for bunkering, data from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore showed on Thursday.

Bunker sales at the world’s largest vessel refuelling hub totalled 4.88 million metric tons in October, up 11% both month-on-month and year-on-year, the data showed.

Total vessel calls for bunkering rose 5.7% from September to 3,452 in October, while container throughput firmed 6.5% to 3.51 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Volumes for the mainstay low-sulphur fuel grade totalled 2.51 million tons in October, up 11% from September, as spot demand picked up amid weaker bunker premiums.

Meanwhile, volumes for high-sulphur marine fuel jumped to more than 1.8 million tons, hitting multi-year highs, said sources.

Demand strengthened this year as more ships with scrubbers came online, while some buyers took advantage of the cheaper prices versus low-sulphur bunkers amid a relatively wide price spread in October.

Marine gasoil sales also firmed, trending higher for a second consecutive month to 351,300 tons.

Biofuel sales maintained the strong momentum seen last month, extending to a record high and breaching 139,000 tons in October.

The higher marine biofuel demand came from term lifting from European liners, as well as steady spot demand from some northeast Asian shipowners, sources said.

Meanwhile, liquefied natural gas volumes also climbed, with monthly sales rising 37% month-on-month to 50,600 tons.

Source: Reuters reported by Jeslyn Lerh and edited by Varun H K