Page 48: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (May/Jun 2017)

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BUNKER OPERATIONS

There will also be a signifcant impact on ma- rine energy infrastructure. Refneries may use larger vessels to ship product to Europe to max- imize economies of scale, which will require larger terminals or the dredging of existing is a confuence of owners who feel perplexed ones so that they are accessible. There will also and apprehensive about fuel procurement and bunkering in general.

need to be a reconfguration of storage tanks to

This is having a signifcant impact on the re- hold clean products rather than fuel oil, as well lationship between owners and suppliers, and how physical suppliers in particular should as adapting pipelines to take middle distillates position themselves within the market. In- to coastal bunkering terminals. Projects of this creasingly we’re fnding that leading ship nature cannot be realized overnight. owners are now looking beyond the price of the product in isolation, and towards the total cost of ownership. Cost is evidently still very important, but with ship owners facing more pressures from charterers to improve their own operational and environmental effciencies and sustainability, they’re dissecting decision is not a viable strategy to deal with unavoidable change. every element of their operations, including bunkering.

To avoid a Res Cogitans situation, disintermediation – or cut- There are two key elements to providing value that goes be- ting out the middlemen and going direct to physical suppliers yond the dollar fgure per ton. The end-to-end physical pro- – has been one of the most substantial changes in recent bunker- cess used to deliver the fuel, and the strategic counsel that’s ing history. This is threatening the continuity of smaller bunker- provided at the outset to the customer for the specifc, indi- ing companies and standalone trading houses. When combined vidual compliance strategy that best suits their needs. with the usual arguments over quality and quantity, the result For any credible physical supplier, the quality and quantity 48 Maritime Logistics Professional March/April 2017 | |