A cargo of Chinese jet fuel is heading towards Europe after a hiatus of several months, as new bookings emerge to load jet fuel from elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region in coming days for delivery to the region.

The long-range (LR)-sized tanker Abbey Road loaded from Yangpu in south China in mid-April and is signalling its next destination as the Suez Canal, Vortexa data shows, for expected onward travel to Europe with mid-to-late May arrival.

The tanker is estimated to have co-loaded a smaller volume of clean oil product-probably also jet fuel-from Singapore, before continuing on its journey.

Provisional shipping fixtures showed Winson Oil booking the tanker to load 60,000t of jet fuel from the region in mid-April with discharge options in Europe.

The last observed jet fuel export from Yangpu to Europe was in late October, when the LR Sea Star delivered most of its cargo to the UK’s Fawley in early December.

Beyond the voyage of Abbey Road, the flow of jet fuel along this route has been relatively thin in recent weeks, with lower volumes from Asia-Pacific seen imported in April compared with prior months.

Chinese exports of jet fuel to Europe, most of which load in Yangpu, have picked up in regularity since mid-2015, as China’s refinery expansions allow it to widen its footprint outside of the immediate Asia-Pacific region, and compete with other Asian and Mideast Gulf jet fuel supply in Europe.

South Korea flows could return

Provisional shipping fixtures suggest that the first South Korea to Europe jet fuel cargo export since January could emerge this month. This last export arrived in early March.

Shell has booked the LR tanker Pink Stars to load 90,000t of jet fuel on 4-9 May with delivery options in Europe.