The Port of Rotterdam recorded total conventional bunker and biofuel sales of 1.75 million mt in the second quarter of 2026, down 26.7% from the same period a year earlier but 4% higher than in the previous quarter, according to data released by the Port of Rotterdam on Tuesday.

For comparison, about 2 million mt of conventional marine fuels and biofuels were sold at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Q2 2026, up 5.5% year on year.

Conventional Bunker Fuel Sales Continue to Decline

Conventional VLSFO sales fell 47.8% year on year and 19.4% from the previous quarter to 354,448 mt in Q2 2026, marking the seventh consecutive quarterly decline since Q3 2024.

HSFO sales declined 23% from a year earlier to 704,637 mt, although they were 13.8% higher than in the previous quarter.

ULSFO sales increased 45.5% year on year to 123,190 mt.

MGO sales fell 13.5% to 266,570 mt, while MDO sales declined 35% year on year to 64,777 mt.

The decline in conventional fossil-based marine fuel sales was partly offset by higher biofuel blend volumes, underscoring how regulatory changes are increasingly affecting the composition of bunker demand at major European ports.

Biofuel Sales Reach Highest Level Since Q1 2024

Biofuel blend sales totaled 239,875 mt in the quarter, up 45.2% from a year earlier and more than double the previous quarter’s volume. The quarterly total was the highest since Q1 2024.

The increase in biofuel sales coincided with the Netherlands’ implementation of RED III in January, which requires fuel suppliers to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of their fuel pool by blending eligible renewable fuels, including marine biodiesel derived from Annex IX-A feedstocks. That makes the Rotterdam figures a useful indicator of how compliance-driven blending can show up in port sales data before the market settles into a new operating baseline.

LNG Sales Rise, Bio-Ethanol Appears in Rotterdam

Alternative marine fuels also recorded gains during the quarter.

LNG, which this article counts separately from conventional and biofuel sales, rose 31.5% year on year to 273,021 m3 in Q2 2026. The figure was also up 2.1% from the previous quarter.

Bio-LNG sales, however, fell to 7,506 m3 in Q2 from 15,260 m3 in Q1 2026.

The port also supplied 2,845 mt of bio-methanol in Q2, almost three times the 996 mt recorded in the previous quarter.

Rotterdam also recorded its first bio-ethanol bunker sales, with 1,025 mt delivered in Q2.

Last month, Ship & Bunker reported that Maersk's methanol dual-fuel feeder vessel Laura Maersk bunkered pure ethanol in Rotterdam.

Prices

Rotterdam’s VLSFO price averaged $704.5/mt in Q2 2026, up from $541/mt in Q1 2026 and $473/mt in Q2 2025, according to Ship & Bunker price data.

Ship & Bunker’s G20-VLSFO Index of average prices across 20 leading bunkering ports stood at $856.5/mt in Q2 2026, compared with $639/mt in the previous quarter and $538/mt in Q2 2025.