Mercuria shipping head says fuel shortages could idle 10% of global fleet

This would trigger immediate and severe breakdowns in global supply chains, as container ships, tankers, and bulk carriers sit idle, halting the movement of food, fertilizer, fuel, and critical imports that modern economies depend on.

"The shipping sector is fast approaching a fuel crisis that could paralyze a tenth of the global fleet, Larry Johnson, global head of freight at commodities trading house Mercuria, said in an interview.

Since the Middle East war erupted, markets have been preoccupied with potential shortfalls in the diesel and jet fuel traditionally exported in large quantities from the Persian Gulf.

However, as refiners strain to capture soaring clean product cracks, residual fuels have suffered. Increasingly, feedstocks have been held back from the marine fuel market to kept for further processing, leaving the shipping sector at risk of crippling shortages, Johnson said.

"My view on marine fuel oil is there will be regional stock-outs by July and that there are potentially outages in the major hubs by August, September, at the latest," Johnson said.

https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/refined-products/060326-interview-mercuria-shipping-head-says-fuel-shortages-could-idle-10-of-global-fleet