Bunkers

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Bunkers is the industry term for ship fuel, a name inherited from the coal bunkers of the steamship era. Taking fuel on board is bunkering, and ports with large refuelling markets — Singapore, Rotterdam, Fujairah — are known as bunkering hubs.

Fuel is typically a ship’s largest single voyage cost, so bunker prices drive freight economics. Under a time charter, bunkers are paid by the charterer; under a voyage charter, by the owner, who prices expected fuel costs into the freight rate. Bunker adjustment factors (BAF) in liner shipping pass fuel price fluctuations through to shippers.

The fuel mix changed sharply with the IMO 2020 sulphur cap under MARPOL Annex VI, which cut the permitted sulphur content of fuel oil from 3.5% to 0.5%. Ships now burn very-low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), marine gasoil (MGO), or continue using high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) with exhaust scrubbers, while a growing minority run on LNG, methanol, or other alternative fuels as decarbonization pressure mounts.