---

Year-on-year bunker sales have increased by 16 percent during the first eight months of 2012, according to the Algeciras Port Authority.

A total of 1.96 million tonnes of marine fuel were sold between January and August this year. If bunker sales were to continue at the same rate until the end of the year, then volumes would reach 2.94 million tonnes by the end of 2012. Annual sales in recent years have averaged at around 2.4-2.5 million tonnes.

The increase in bunker sales volumes in Algeciras has been attributed to the rise in the number of container vessels calling at the port. Puertos del Estado, the government organization that coordinates port policy, recently released official data concerning the first 7 months of 2012, which showed that container traffic was up 22.32 percent at the Port of Algericas.

The port handles bunker supply operations both at berth and at anchorage. The amount of fuel delivered at berth is said to have risen by 17 percent to 941,776 tonnes during the first eight months of this year. Fuel deliveries at sea, which account for over half of the port’s bunkering business, climbed 14 percent between January and August in comparison with the corresponding period in 2011.

Fuel is delivered by small bunker tankers to vessels that anchor off Algeciras - similar to the model used in Gibraltar. The principal difference between operations at Algeciras and Gibraltar is that suppliers in Gibraltar use large tankers to store fuel in the bay, whilst in Algeciras they deliver straight from the refinery or from land-based storage depots.

Algeciras is Spain's largest bunker port by volume and steps have already been taken to improve the port's infrastructure in order to support future growth.

Multinational tank storage company VTTI is building a bulk liquid storage terminal with a capacity of approximately 550,000 cubic meters in Algeciras. Once completed, customers will have the opportunity to store products on land to serve the local market for ship fuels as an alternative to floating storage in Gibraltar. The facility is due to open next year.

Last year, CEPSA also began expanding its bunker storage capacity at Algeciras to 310,000 cubic metres. The new facilities include two lines to load barges and one to discharge cargoes, which can be also used to load barges when unoccupied.

The CEPSA terminal is located directly in front of anchorage areas C and D at ‘Isla Verde’, and forms part of the hub that includes the TTI terminal (Total Terminal International Algeciras S.A.U.) and the existing facilities of Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos(CLH).