Maersk Tankers and Cargill Team Up on New Bunker Procurement Service

Maersk Tankers and Cargill have teamed up to launch a new bunker procurement service that will offer better pricing, service and transparency to tramp shipping companies and trading houses.

The strategic partnership, which will launch April 1, 2021, will seek to combine their respective bunker volumes and experience in order to attract better prices and services. The initial goal of the service will be to procure bunker fuel for Cargill and Maersk Tankers’ combined fleet, while aiming to attract additional customers in the coming months.

Cargill currently charters a fleet of around 700 vessels and procures 2.5 million tons of marine fuel per year. Maersk Tankers will tap into its managed fleet of more than 220 product tankers, increasing the joint annual bunker volume to 3.5 million tons. The companies say 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.

“Tramp shipping companies face challenges today in a bunker market that is becoming increasingly complex. With our new bunker procurement service, we want to make their lives easier,” says Claus Gronborg, Chief Investment Officer at Maersk Tankers. Tramp ships trade on the spot market without fixed schedules. “Through our scale, they will get access to bunker fuel at competitive prices, while getting an experienced partner that will navigate the bunker market on their behalf. We are excited to venture into this together with Cargill and utilize our combined expertise to provide this new solution to both our pool partners and other shipowners and operators.”

With IMO’s target to reduce GHG by 50% by 2050, the new bunker service will also provide unique access to future marine fuels, including Cargill’s growing internal biodiesel business.

“As independent bunker consumers with no physical oil activity or bunker assets, there will be no conflicts of interest. We can therefore focus on providing transparency, robust benchmarking, and a modern and digital customer experience,” said Olivier Josse, Head of Tankers and Marine Fuel at Cargill Ocean Transportation. “We are excited to collaborate with Maersk Tankers and together we have ambitious plans to become a unique provider of bunker solutions.”

This partnership follows a series of strategic collaborations between Cargill and Maersk Tankers in recent years. 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.

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