Cargill and Maersk Tankers are embarking on a strategic partnership to combine their bunker volumes, offering a new bunker procurement service to tramp shipping companies and trading houses. Cargill announced recently.The initial goal is to procure bunker fuel for Cargill and Maersk Tankers’ combined fleet, while aiming to attract additional customers in the coming months. The service will leverage Cargill’s in-house bunker expertise and Maersk Tankers’ commercial and operational capabilities and will launch on April 1, 2021. (Logo quoted from Cargill’s official website)

Cargill currently charters a fleet of around 700 vessels and procures 2.5 million tons of marine fuel per year. Maersk Tankers will add the volume stemming from its commercially managed fleet of more than 220 product tankers, increasing the joint annual bunker volume to 3.5 million tons. The increased scale and one voice approach will give access to better prices and services, leveraging relationships with key suppliers in the world’s busiest bunkering hubs to ensure optimal service and bunker premiums.

The new one-stop-shop will give customers enhanced access to market information, optimization of bunker logistics, and improved claims support. By digitizing, centralizing and analyzing the large amount of available data, the service will offer increased reactivity to market conditions and refined views on short and mid-term price outlook.

As the maritime industry transitions towards carbon-neutral to meet the IMO’s target to reduce GHG by 50% by 2050, the bunker market will go through a radical transformation. Cargill and Maersk Tankers are united in their firm commitment to accelerate decarbonization and are building expertise in the use of new fuels and technologies. The new bunker service will provide unique access to future marine fuels, including Cargill’s growing internal biodiesel business.

This partnership follows a series of strategic collaborations between Cargill and Maersk Tankers, two of the maritime industry’s leading players. In 2019, Cargill and Maersk Tankers created a joint MR tankers pool and launched Project Njord with Mitsui & Co to bring turn-key energy-saving solutions to the market. Last year, Cargill became a strategic investor in ZeroNorth, a tech start-up focusing on vessel performance optimization and decarbonization founded by Maersk Tankers.

(IRuniverse)

Related articles