Diesel expensive: shipping will be hit hard

Price increase up to 23%

It's not just at the petrol station and the gas heater that we feel it: rising fuel and energy prices are having an impact everywhere. This will affect all import and export goods, but also every passenger. There have already been fuel surcharges for cruises before.

Marine diesel is based on the same raw materials as diesel and petrol for cars. As high profits can currently be made from this, the supply for shipping is tightening, Bloomberg reported yesterday. As fuel is the biggest cost factor in shipping, any price increase will put pressure on already strained global supply chains. The cost of marine fuel in Rotterdam reached its highest level since at least the end of 2019 at the beginning of this week and has risen by 23 % since the beginning of the year.

A large part of the rise in the price of marine fuels is due to increases in the price of crude oil. The regulation that came into force in 2020 forcing shipowners to use lower sulphur fuels has also contributed to the cost increase. In Europe, however, the price of marine fuel with a sulphur content of 0.5 % - known as Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) - has risen much faster than that of crude oil. Due to the high profits from diesel production, oil refineries are incentivised to produce more diesel rather than VLSFO.