Fuel oil's front month closed at RMB 4,363/t, up 6% on the day; bitumen at RMB 5,256 puts the gap at RMB 893. The screen now keeps marine fuel and road end in two separate books: bunkering earns the spread, road demand stays pinned by the off-season.

Zhoushan is competing on turnaround. For a Capesize at anchorage, every day saved from berth to bunkered departure is tens of thousands in demurrage. Enough bonded storage and dense supply-boat schedules are what pull owners' orders away from Singapore.

On the spread, when Singapore's low-sulfur fuel oil cracks go negative to Brent, parcels flow to the port with the fatter bunkering margin. Crude fell while fuel oil rose today, widening cracks and lifting onshore bunkering profit — but storage and laycan are the hard constraints on whether orders can actually be caught.

For a player with bonded tanks like SNSUC, the signal is plain: the spread window is open, but catch depends on tank turnover and document speed. Price alone is not enough; the laycan has to close before the owner stays.