War diversions boost ship refuelling at Mauritius port

The island nation of Mauritius has become an increasingly popular refuelling stop for commercial cargo vessels avoiding the Middle East due to the Iran war.

Bunker calls at Port Louis Harbour in the Indian Ocean surged to 294 vessels in March, a 42% increase from 207 the previous month before the conflict, according to the Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA).

Listen/read:

The amount of fuel the ships loaded jumped to 109 708 tonnes from 69 680 tonnes during the same period.

Shipping routes are adjusting not only to security risks, but to shifts in demand for oil, gas, and other products due to the disruption of flows from the Middle East.

Soaring fuel prices have resulted in atypical shipments around the world, and that also changes where the vessels stop to resupply.

Mauritius, located in the middle of shipping traffic steaming between Asia and the southern tip of Africa, experienced a previous rise in bunkering between 2023 and last year, when ships looked to avoid attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea.

Fuel sales at Port Louis nearly doubled, reaching a million tonnes in 2025, according to the ports authority.

Around the Cape of Good Hope, the amount of vessels stopping at Namibia’s Port of Walvis Bay for ship-to-ship bunkering is also on the rise. Those operations can be supplied by offshore logistics and aren’t dependent on onshore storage.

Read:

For now, bunker suppliers and oil companies at Port Louis have been able to meet increased demand and storage capacity remains adequate, a spokesman for MPA said. Most is stored in and distributed from floating barges.

“Depending on the evolution of the Middle East conflict, which could affect the activities of some bunker operators, there could be some constraints on bunker supply,” the spokesman said.

The harbour outlined additional storage facilities in a 2024 master plan and land has been earmarked for the project, according to the MPA.

© 2026 Bloomberg