Yet this colossus, the largest of its kind in the world, runs effortlessly thanks to its many screws from Rotterdam to Amsterdam via the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. For instance, to top up its stocks of heavy fuel oil for ship’s engines. In spite of the detour via Tiel, that is a run of only eight hours. Via inland waterways to Antwerp it’s a little less.
 
“Costly ships like the Vlissingen, built in 2003 for EUR 10 million at the Kommer Damen yard in Ukraine, have to be able to operate 24 hours a day, otherwise they don’t return a profit,” says VT owner-director Johan Groenewold.

He is a member of a family of bargemen going back to the 17th century, from fathers to sons. Mr Groenewold bought VT in 2000. “Things weren’t going terribly well for the company at the time, although it had a great reputation in inland shipping circles. My son worked for the company as a captain, so I knew what I was buying,” he says.
 
Groenewold sr, who made his name as an entrepreneur towing and pushing on the Rhine and IJssel rivers, turned to his own bank, ABN AMRO, for help in financing the venture. Mr Willem Scholten, still director of the Port of Rotterdam Authority at the time, acquired a stake in VT via the commercial arm of the Port Authority.
 
In view of the increasing scale of operations in the bunker trade, Mr Scholten felt it was in his interest to help ensure there would still be a ship owner who, independently from the oil companies, could satisfy the growing demand for bunker oil.

Says Mr Groenewold: “To avoid misunderstandings, I did not need Mr Scholten to finance VT. When the Port Authority was privatised, it divested itself of its stake in VT. That makes me feel more independent. And I see no more envious competitors.”
 
The bunker oil volume growth of three percent annually isn’t great, but steady. What is spectacular are the changes taking place in the industry.

Says Mr Groenewold: “Not even five years ago you needed three tankers to supply 6000 tonnes of bunker oil to a container ship. With the Vlissingen, or the Vlaardingen (6200 tonnes capacity), you need only one tanker. You save yourself a lot of time and hassle, and it’s safer.”
 
VT is not alone in investing in large vessels. Competitors are also confident that for ocean-going vessels Rotterdam will continue to be the cut-rate fuel pump of the world for some time to come and that big bunker tankers will be profitable.

“As long as Singapore, as the second largest bunker oil port, remains an average 10 percent more expensive than Rotterdam, the prospects for this industry – with margins of four percent - are reasonably good in the longer term,” Mr Groenewold says.
 
In just six years, the price of fuel oil rose from $115 a tonne to more than $300 a tonne. Says Mr Groenewold: “Considering that a large container vessel goes through something like 250 tonnes of fuel a day, you can imagine that owners like to fill their tanks here as much as possible. But that $300 a tonne isn’t the end yet, soon only sulphur-free oil will be allowed to be burned in Europe and the price will rise further.”
 
Those environmental measures don’t work out unfavourably to the bunker oil owners. In the ports, new rules lead to new business, such as mixing different types of bunker oil, or separately taking on sulphur-free oil when container ships operate in European waters.
 
But stricter rules can also lead to problems. “Inland waterway vessels last longer than ocean-going ships,” says Mr Groenewold. “The investments in the Vlissingen can be recouped in 20 years. But the ship can be around for 30 years, maybe longer. It would be disastrous if the operational life of bunker ships is reduced, as has happened in the past to ocean-going vessels.”

Source: Press Release

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Europe  Port of Rotterdam  fuel  ports